My Sweet Thing
by An End Has A Start
Summary: Bella Swan's world is about to be turned upside down when she meets a strange boy named Bronze. His child like attitude is just what she needs to step down off the pedestal she lives upon. All Human.
1. Chapter 1: Bronze & Frenchie

**My Sweet Thing**

**Chapter One: Bronze & Frenchie  
**

_Bella's POV_

Sliding into the backseat of the car, I placed my bag onto the floor and turned to my father who was on the phone. The driver was in the front of the vehicle, ready to go, but wouldn't move until my father gave him the go ahead.

It was rather infuriating. I was already running twenty minutes late but I had to wait for my father to tell the driver to get a move on. _Yes_, my father paid the man and _yes_, he technically was his boss but that didn't mean I was chopped liver.

"Yes, I understand, I am on my way right now," Charlie said, nodding towards the driver. And with that the car set in motion.

I couldn't help but sigh. Was the waiting really necessary? By the time it took the driver to leave our estate, Charlie would have been ready to give him the go ahead anyway. All that was pointless in my opinion.

"Absolutely, that's not a problem, of course." Charlie hung up the phone and slipped it into his suit pocket, turning to smile at me. "I know you're late, Bella, but I need to make a stop somewhere first."

Groaning, I looked at him in protest. "Why can't you drop me off first? You know how pissy Rose gets when I'm late."

"I know, Bella, but I need to meet these people. You just sit in the car," he replied, trying to placate me and failing.

"Ugh, must I go?" I whined, looking at my father again. I was going to bring out my Bambi eyes if I was unsuccessful.

"Yes. It won't be so bad. Just stay in the car and I'll be back within ten minutes."

"I don't see why I have to go."

"Because this is the only time I could arrange to meet these people. Bella, I'm trying to buy them out, I need to work on their schedules, not ours." He paused. "I know, I know you'll be late to whatever this thing Miss Hale is throwing, but I'm sure she can catch you up on what you missed."

"Oh, she'll catch me up alright when she screams at me for not making it on time to her birthday party."

Charlie sighed and shook his head. "We're not going to argue about this, Bella. This deal is very important to me and the company. If I lose this then I'm losing a very profitable bit of land. Give me six months and I'll have state of the art apartments built on that site, much better than what currently occupies it."

"Are you just thinking about the money?" I asked, frowning out the window.

My father was successful and driven, but sometimes it felt like he cared more about how many zeros were on the end of a cheque rather than the lives of those he bulldozed over to secure a deal. Take for example the exact piece of land we were on our way to view. It was a trailer park and known for its bad reputation. He was throwing money at the residents to clear up and move on so he could sell apartments and make a profit. What he should have been doing was buying the land and making affordable housing for the residents already living there. They had needs, too, and he was trampling over them. My opinions didn't matter though, we we're never going to agree on some issues.

"Of course not, I'm going to make this community a better place. You just wait and see. This is the exact project Swan Construction stands for, why your great grandfather built the business. We take the ugly ducklings of the property world and turn them into swans, elegant and sleek homes perfect for families."

"Whatever you say," I muttered, rolling my eyes out of his view.

All of that bull about ugly ducklings and elegant swans was my father's way of covering up his conscience. He knew that he was screwing people over yet didn't want to admit that. It would mar his perfect reputation.

The drive to the trailer park was uneventful; I listened to my iPod while my father was busy running over numbers and writing cheques. Eventually he was going to meet someone he couldn't buy out and I hoped to God I was there when that happened just so I could see his face.

The car came to a slow stop outside one trailer and my father quickly exited the vehicle, giving me a soft smile on his way out. The driver immediately stepped out also and stood by the car, no doubt watching over me and trying to watch over my father at the same time.

Sitting in the stuffy vehicle was boring. I wanted to get out and stretch my legs. I had never ventured onto the trailer park and after today, there was an unlikely chance I would be back on it before my father totalled it. Therefore, then seemed like the best opportunity to get out and explore.

Pushing open the door, I slid round on the seat and placed one foot out on the concrete. Securing my step, I exited the car and shut the door behind me, feeling the hot humid air tuck round me as if I was wrapped in a blanket. The thin straps of my dress left my arms bare and out in the harsh sun, which was exactly what I wanted. I would get a slight tan and also keep rather cool should the wind pick up. My driver on the other hand, who was dressed in a black suit, and not being able to take his jacket off, was going to cook.

With the slam of the car door he turned sharply to me, opening his mouth to speak. "Miss Swan, I have instructions to keep you by the car," he said, looking almost lost that I would dare get out the vehicle.

"I want to take a walk. Are you going to tell me I can't?" Yes, I was being a bitch but I really didn't want the hired help stalking me.

"Oh, eh no, Miss Swan, but perhaps I should-"

"You should stay with the car in case my father comes back," I replied, cutting him off. He was at a loss for words so I made my getaway, slipping round the back of one trailer and past another.

Before I knew it I was a little bit lost. Each trailer led onto another and there were just so many, I had forgotten which direction I had come in. I didn't worry too much about it; all I had to do was scream and the driver would come find me. I wandered round, looking at all the different types of trailers.

Some were spotless, completely clean and not a thing was out of place around them; others had trash out, rusty garden chairs in the spotted lawn out front their doors, and smashed windows. It really was such a contrast to see.

Hearing the sound of a TV, I moved towards it, hoping to at least see one person about. So far the place seemed like a ghost town, and for one o'clock in the afternoon that was very surprising. It wasn't like many of the folks here had jobs; they were all unemployed and living off the state, or so I'd heard.

Peeking round the corner of one of the trailers, I saw two guys sitting in very similar rusty patio furniture I had seen several trailers back, both with cans of diet coke in their hands and watching a small and rickety TV that was sitting on an empty crate of beer. SpongeBob SquarePants was playing on the TV and the guys both had an innocent smile to them as they watched it.

One was particularly big, wearing a scruffy white T-shirt with what looked like ketchup stained down the front. It was either ketchup or blood. It was hoping for the former. Along the big guy's arms were swirling tattoos disappearing under the ripped sleeves. They showed intricate patterns and designs woven into one another. I wasn't close enough to get a good look at them but they looked very fancy. None of this 'I heart mom' tattoo rubbish. No, this guy had some proper artwork on his body.

The other guy looked much younger than Tank with the tattoos. He looked more about my age, with a strong jaw and messed up bed hair. In the sun it looked rather bronze-coloured, giving him a very unique look. Unlike Tank, Bronze was thin, tall and rather lanky-looking. He didn't appear to be very muscled, but was slightly toned. He was dressed in jeans and a shirt, all the buttons undone up the front.

For trailer trash, which I assumed these guys were, they fitted the bill rather accurately. They had the rumpled look and the white trash theme going on what with the rusty patio furniture and the junk around the front of the trailer. I was half expecting to see one of those plastic flamingos placed on the lawn. Sadly, none of them were in sight.

Bronze suddenly got up, grabbing an old football off the grass and tossed it in the air. He was pretending to throw it and run with it through blockers, just like he was playing football. Tank was giving him tips on how best to avoid them. Honestly, I felt like I was watching monkeys use tools for the first time, what with the way they were acting. It was so alien to see.

"Hey, who's that?" Tank asked, nodding in my direction. Fuck, I was caught. "Girly, come on out! There's not need to hide!" he yelled.

I had no choice but to step out from behind the trailer. If they asked what I was doing, I was going to lie and say I got lost looking for my father. That was best. Technically, it wasn't a complete lie. I was lost and I did need to look for my father...I was just leaving out the part that I was watching them as if they were on show at the zoo.

I stepped out and began walking past them, smiling a little at Tank who was watching me carefully. Before I could walk successfully past their trailer, Bronze came and stood right in front of me. Being this close allowed me to see how good looking he was, but also how much bigger he was. He was very intimidating, and I felt completely out of my depth.

"Someday I'm gonna make you my sweet thing, not overtly – but surreptitiously," Bronze said, smiling at me. Tank started laughing and shook his head.

"Leave her alone, Ed," he called, taking a drink from his can.

"Pardon?" I asked, not entirely sure I had caught what he said. Sweet thing? _What_?

"I'm Edward," Bronze said, grinning at me.

"Bella," I replied, glancing round. For some reason, I felt like another five or six guys were suddenly going to appear out of nowhere and attack me. Maybe it wasn't such a smart idea to leave the driver.

"So what's a girl like you doing out here?" he asked, looking me over quickly, taking in my appearance.

"My father is here on business," I answered, carefully looking round for the quickest exit if I needed it.

"Your father…" Tank muttered. "Wait, your father wouldn't happen to be that Swan dude, who's forcing us from our homes, would he?" Tank asked, getting up quickly and walking over. I didn't know if he was going to hit me or was genuinely curious.

"Eh...yeah. I guess that's him."

Tank looked surprised and started chuckling. "You might not want to broadcast that, darling. The wrong folk hear you say that and you're dead meat." He nodded his head to reaffirm his point and I couldn't help but swallow nervously. "Anyhow, I gotta go. Nice watching the Toons with you, Ed, see you later." Clapping Bronze on the back, Tank headed off in the other direction, leaving the two of us alone.

Now I felt like prey before the predator, about to be slaughtered. I was completely defenceless, lost in some god-awful trailer park with some guy that probably had a gun tucked in the back of his jeans.

"You want to watch some Toons?" he asked, taking a seat back in the patio furniture.

"Toons?" I asked, unfamiliar with that word.

"Yeah, some cartoons." He pointed at the other seat for me and I shook my head.

"Thank you for the offer but I really should get going, before my father worries. Have a good day," I quickly rushed out.

"Wait!" he called, the sound of him getting out of the chair also hitting my ears. "What age are you, Bella?"

"Seventeen," I replied, looking over my shoulder ever so slightly at him.

"You go to Hopkins?"

"I'm sorry?" I turned back around and looked at Bronze, Edward, standing by the TV. He looked innocent and nonthreatening, so why was I running from him?

"Do you go to Hopkins? You know, the private school? You one of those Princesses?"

"I'm no princess," I replied, shaking my head. "But yes, I do go to Hopkins. Do you?" Immediately after I asked I felt like smacking myself in the head. Of course he didn't go to Hopkins; he lived in a trailer park. Where was he going to find $43,000 a year for the tuition?

"Yeah actually, I do," he replied, smirking at me.

I chuckled and shook my head. "So where do you really go?"

His head moved backwards and he frowned at me, the smirk not having left his face though. It was as though I had offended him. "I really do go to Hopkins, or well, I _will_ when the new school term starts up."

"Uh huh, yeah, of course," I replied dismissively, checking my watch. I had left the car fifteen minutes ago; it was about time I got my ass back there.

"You don't believe me," Bronze said, glaring all of a sudden. "I mean, why would a poor pauper like myself go to that prestigious school with all the elitists. Surely Princesses like yourself wouldn't be mixing with hillbillies like me. No, of course, I'm lying, I don't attend Hopkins. I didn't pay $230.19 for the red blazer, and I didn't pay $67.99 for the special black pants, or $58.97 for the crisp white shirt, or hell, my favourite, $41.90 for the red tie. No, I didn't buy those things, because of course, I'm lying. I'm nothing but white trailer trash, too poor to be mixing with the likes of you. Forgive me for even sharing the same air as you. See you around Princess." And just like that, Bronze stormed away into his trailer.

Immediately I was filled with shame. Every price he just listed was exactly correct, even to the cent. He had to be a Hopkins student to know that as the uniform prices. I wanted to go over and apologise but knew that would be the wrong thing to do. I had judged him and been rude when he had been nothing but rather nice to me – in an unusual way, yes, but at least he was nice. I, on the other hand, was very rude. Hell, he invited me, a complete stranger, to watch Toons with him. That was rather sweet, in a weird way.

"Bella? What the hell are you doing?" Charlie called, striding over to me. "Do you know how worried I've been? I thought some hooligan took you. Don't ever do that again, you hear me? Next time you just stay in the car. And if you must stretch your legs, stretch them around the vehicle. Don't dive off into the middle of nowhere like that again." Grabbing my arm, Charlie pulled me away from the trailers, away from Bronze, and back to the car.

"Okay, Dad, I'm sorry. It won't happen again. How did the deal go?"

"Excellent. There are only nineteen more residents I need to convince and then my plans can go ahead."

"Good for you." I slipped into the backseats and strapped myself in. Finally it was time to go to Rosalie's.

Arriving at her house, I was relieved to see she had a drink in her hand and was actually still smiling. That meant one of two things. One, she was tipsy and therefore in a good mood, or two, she had just gotten laid. Seeing how Jasper's car wasn't present out front meant it had to be number one. There was no way Rose would have had sex with anyone other than her long-time friends with benefits partner Jasper Whitlock.

They were both only children and therefore were free to do what they wanted with the endless amounts of money their parents both had. They grew up as best friends, partners in crime, and the minute they both hit puberty they somehow fell into bed together; that had been going at it ever since. There were no commitments, though. Jasper was a free spirit and Rose liked to hold all the cards and be in control. If the two of them ever did date, they would no doubt _kill_ each other.

So Jasper's absence at Rose's party meant she had to be drunk, or high.

Walking up the lawn, I wandered over and gave my best friend a hug, thankfully receiving one in return and not an icy death glare for being late.

"Happy birthday!" I said, smiling brightly at her.

"Thanks! And because I'm in a good mood and I know you've bought me a killer present I won't bitch you out for being late. You can put it on the table inside by the way. Is Jasper with you?" Rose asked, glancing over my shoulder.

"No, I haven't seen him today."

"Oh, well I guess we just need to start without him." Rose entwined her fingers with mine and led me up to the house. I saw the table she previously mentioned and placed the gift down before turning back to her. Guests were mingling throughout, drinking and eating, chatting happily and pretending like they gave a damn about one another.

Dragging me along the landing, Rose pushed open her bedroom door and let go of my hand. She shut the door behind us as I got comfortable on the bed. I loved Rose's bed; it was the comfiest bed ever. Seriously, you could fall asleep in minutes from lying on that beauty.

"Don't get too comfortable, I have a gift for us."

"For us?" I asked, looking at her curiously.

"Yeah. Jamie hooked me up with some really good stuff at discount prices because I'm the birthday girl today. I bought more than usual but figured it wouldn't really matter, we'll use it eventually," Rose replied, pulling out a block of something.

"Please tell me that's not what I think it is," I begged, feeling all the hairs on my body stand on end.

"Oh relax Bella, its fine. Don't get your panties in a twist."

"Rose, that's a fucking kilo of coke! Where the fuck did you get that?"

"I told you, Jamie. Now stop your fucking bitching. I'm going to measure some of this out in the bathroom. If someone comes looking for me just tell them I'm fixing my makeup, unless it's Jasper. He can come in."

Walking across the room, the kilo in one hand, Rose entered her bathroom and locked the door behind her, leaving me alone on the bed. It would have been so good to nod off but I knew Rose would kill me when she came back out. For that reason alone, I got my ass off of the bed and sat myself down on the rug, next to the large coffee table she had by the window. If she was going to be doing lines she was going to be doing them on here, like always.

What had to be at least ten minutes later Rose emerged with three tiny bags of coke. She must have left the remainder of the kilo in a bathroom drawer or something. Walking over, her heels clicking against the wooden floor until she hit the rug, Rose settled herself down next to me and began drawing the lines out using some credit cards she took from her purse, which was surprisingly laying next to us.

I was so bored of this crap but knew she enjoyed it so for today I was going to go along with it. Normally, I let her and Jasper do it to their hearts content, but seeing as it was her birthday, I had to at least make an effort.

The sound of whistling coming up the hall alerted us to someone else's presence but we both knew who it was before he even walked in the room. The sound of Rose's door open was no surprise to us. Hell, Rose didn't even turn round to see who it was; she kept trying to lay out the coke.

"What shit are we doing today?" Jasper asked, smiling brightly at me.

"Just in time," Rose said, smirking and nodding at the lines on the table.

"Ah yeah, my second love." He rubbed his hands together and came over, looking practically giddy.

"What's your first love?" I asked curiously. Jasper knelt over the coffee table, accepted the plastic tampon tube from Rose and leant forward.

"Sex, of course," he replied before snorting his line. I rolled my eyes as Rose licked her lips at his answer. "So, who do I need to thank for this fine quality of coke?" Jasper asked, sitting back across the floor.

"Jamie. He hooked me up."

"Ah, of course. Happy birthday, darling," Jasper said, holding his arms out for Rose. She slipped across the floor and snuggled into his touch, embracing him tightly and kissing him softly on the lips.

"I thought you'd never remember."

"How could I forget my love's birthday? That's just not possible." He kissed her again and whispered something into her ear. I was exceedingly glad that I couldn't hear what it was he said. Knowing Jasper, it would be crude and sexual.

"Oh, while I have you both here, you can help me pick my underwear for tonight," Rose said, standing up and going over to her bedside table.

"Tonight? What's happening tonight? Are you getting all dressed up for me, darling?" Jasper asked, smirking.

"No, I have a date."

"A what?"

"A date. Now, which one, the green or the red one?" Rose held up two matching panty sets and watched for our reactions. The dark green was very conservative and the bright red was very provocative. I knew that even with our opinions Rose was still going to pick the red one. She had to. She needed to show off her body and herself, exerting power over people.

"The green one, the red one is too..._in your face_," Jasper answered, nodding at his choice.

"I'm going for 'in your face'. I want this guy to fuck me, why do I need to be shy about it?" Rose asked, throwing the green one to the side.

"Oh, well go with the red one then, I don't know." Jasper flopped back on the floor sighing. "I still don't see why you need to go on a date with some guy. He won't have anything I don't have."

"Aww, is Jasper jealous?" Rose mocked, snickering away to herself as she changed out of her party dress and into the red set.

"Yeah actually, I am."

"Pfft, you have nothing to worry about. You'll still always be my number one fuck, don't stress. He's just going to help me out with a little something and then I never have to see or speak to him again."

"Promise?"

"I promise. Now, how do I look?" Lifting his head up from the floor Jasper eyed Rose in the red lacy thong and matching bra. He groaned loudly and dropped his head back down again.

"I'm not happy about this. I'm not happy."

"I'll take that as I look smoking hot. Bella?" Rose turned to me, eyebrows raised.

"You look amazing."

And she did. She filled out the bra and her tiny waist made the throng look like a scrap of material. Whoever she was going on a date with was surely one lucky bastard.

"Right, with that settled, let's finish these lines and head back down to the party," she said, stripping out of the underwear set again. Rather than put back on the underwear she was previously wearing she just threw her dress on and winked at Jasper. He was practically panting on the floor.

"Sometimes I feel like a leaf in the wind; I have zero control over where I will land when it comes to you," he muttered, shaking his head at her.

"That's because you're my bitch. Now, come on, sniff up and let's go." Rose leaned down to the coffee table, snorted her lines and headed for the door, Jasper quick on her heels.

With the two of them out the room, I used Rose's credit card to manoeuvre the powder back into the small bag. She would never know I didn't take it. Nodding to myself in pride, I got up off the floor and headed after my friends. No doubt this was bound to be a party never to be forgotten.

By Monday morning everyone was in agreement with me, no one would ever forget Rose's party. It was crazy. Once the parents buggered off and left us all alone, things took off. Jamie brought out the rest of his stock, we had fun raiding Dr. Hale's liquor cabinet and spent the remainder of the weekend having one big bash before school started up again.

It was clear many students still had hangovers or were coming down from a weekend of fixes by the time we all entered homeroom. There was hardly a perky face in sight, except for maybe one. Right at the back of the room sat a familiar face, one I really never thought I'd see again.

Bronze was dressed immaculately in the uniform and looked like the ideal pupil. The only thing out of place on him was the old fashioned headphones plugged into a cassette player. I hadn't seen one of those in years. Hell, I hadn't seen anyone act the way Bronze did in front of people. There he was, in a crowded classroom, without a care in the world, swinging his head back and forth to the music and lost in his own little world. It was so refreshing to see.

"Who the fuck is that?" I heard Rose asked venomously, pulling me into a seat. "Looks like a fucking retard."

I rolled my eyes and ignored her; no doubt by lunch she'd know all she needed to about Bronze.

Bronze's actual name was Edward Cullen, according to the attendance list. His name didn't really suit him so I was still going to call him Bronze. But the minute everyone got his name, they all had their phones out, texting and researching who he was. These sharks didn't want to miss any gossip at all.

Just like I had predicted, by lunch Rose had found out enough about him to start an FBI file on the guy. I wasn't getting involved, just staying out of it. Bronze seemed totally harmless – or at least he was to me – so I wasn't getting mixed up in their screwed up prejudices.

By the end of lunch I was ready to stab myself with a fork. Jasper had just joined us, which briefly stopped Rose's ranting about Bronze being scum of the Earth, and at the same time as his arrival Bronze and another girl entered the lunch room.

"There's that new guy again. He's poor," Rose said, her nose scrunched up.

"There's also a new girl; fresh meat, if you will," Jasper added, smirking and nodding towards the small girl with long black hair standing next to Bronze. "She's in my French class. I'm thinking of inviting her back to mine to maybe practice some good old French, you know, maybe some French kissing or if I'm lucking some soixante-neuf."

"You're disgusting, you know that?" I asked, slapping his arm.

"Yep, but I honestly don't care. I'm still loved by many...and desired by _all_."

"Will you two shut it, please? Why do we have these poor folk attending our school?" Rose cried, frowning at us.

"Rose, they clearly aren't that poor," Jasper said, his eyes still on Frenchie.

"They _are_, Jasper. I spoke to the kid that works in the office. Their home address is listed as a trailer in the trailer park. They're white trash!"

Jasper rolled his eyes and shushed her with a finger to her lips.

"They won't bother you, darling, don't worry. Just ignore them. Give it two weeks and the two of them will be running from here with their tails between their legs, trust me."

Rose pursed her lips, but nodded.

I hated everything the two of them had just said. I hated that Jasper was going to go out of his way to fuck Frenchie and then abandon her, and I hated that he was also going to make sure they were both harassed until they left. Bronze and Frenchie hadn't done anything wrong, so why were they being persecuted like that?

Sighing I grabbed my bag and walked off, leaving Rose and Jasper to make out in peace, heading back to my locker.

They were my friends and I loved them, but at times, they drove me crazy. Rose was such a stuck up, it was unreal. She had no thought for others, it was all about her. Jasper was her lap dog, following her around everywhere like an obedient puppy. He was also a dick to every girl in school. Rather than just be happy, he got to fuck Rose. He went after girls that were sweet and innocent and corrupted them for the challenge. He was nothing but an insecure little boy that relied on his penis to make him friends, and I couldn't stand that. But yet, they were all I had and I wasn't going to push them away.

Sighing, I unlocked my locker and rooted around inside for my books. Although I had another twenty minutes until the bell rang, I didn't want to have to hang about waiting on Rose and Jasper. While gathering my books, I heard the sound of someone leaning against the locker next to me. Peeking over the door, I was met with that familiar lazy smile and distinct hair. Bronze was grinning ear to ear at me.

"What's up, Doc?" His boyish smile worked a charm.

"What?" I asked, smiling back at him.

"Bugs Bunny. So, you surprised to see me?"

I couldn't help but blush in embarrassment over the last time I saw him and what I had said to him. "I'm sorry about that."

"Nah, don't worry. It's fine. Anyway, I came over here to tell you something."

"Oh?" I asked, biting my lip. This was the part where he was going to spit in my face for being a rude bitch to him or something.

"Remember the first thing I said to you?" Bronze asked, looking me straight in the eyes.

"Something about being your sweet thing," I replied, remembering I was utterly confused by it.

"Yeah, SpongeBob SquarePants. I said someday I'm gonna make you my sweet thing, not overtly – but surreptitiously. I still intend to do that, and what with us going to the same school now, well, that just makes it all the more easier. I hope you're prepared." His smile grew and he winked.

"Prepared?"

"For me. See you around, Princess." Patting me on the shoulder, he walked off like nothing had happened, while I was left dazed.

Was I being pursued by one Edward, white trash, hillbilly, pauper, hick, Cullen a.k.a. Bronze? Yes, _yes_ I was. And what was even better, I was excited about it.

Rose was going to _kill_ me if she found out.


	2. Chapter 2: Guilt

**My Sweet Thing**

**Chapter Two: Guilt  
**

_"Remember the first thing I said to you?" Bronze asked, looking me straight in the eyes._

_"Something about being your sweet thing," I replied, remembering I__ had been__ utterly confused by it._

_"Yeah, SpongeBob SquarePants. I said someday I'm gonna make you my sweet thing; not overtly, but surreptitiously. I still intend to do that, and what with us going to the same school now, well, that just makes it all the more __easy__. I hope you're prepared." His smile grew and he winked._

_"Prepared?"_

_"For me. See you around, Princess." Patting me on the shoulder, he walked off like nothing had happened, while I was left dazed._

_Was I being pursued by one Edward, white trash, hillbilly, pauper, hick, Cullen, a.k.a. Bronze? Yes, __yes__ I was. And what was even better, I was excited about it._

_Rose was going to __kill__ me if she found out._

Staring after Bronze, I took a double take. There was just no way he was being serious. I mean, he had just met me recently. He didn't know me. I had even been a little rude to him; what could he possible see in me from that? And wanting to make me his, what did that mean exactly?

Whatever his plans were, I was excited and flustered at the thought. Bronze was an unusual character, to say the least, but there was something about him that was charming. However, with this new development, I was now tasked with either becoming a superb liar or a master of the art of avoidance.

Rose and Jasper were not going to stand by and let this happen. They had very clear opinions of those who did not have the same lifestyle as they did. Jasper would get his buddies to railroad Bronze, making his life a living hell and trying to scare him off. Rose, on the other hand, would start on me. I would never hear the end of her biased views and all that was wrong with Bronze.

Sighing to myself, I headed off in the direction of my next class. I was going to put all that drama at the back of my mind and deal with it when the time required I do so. Thankfully, neither Bronze, Jasper nor Rose was in my next class, so I could stay drama free for the next hour and a half.

Pinned up on the classroom door when I arrived, however, was a notice from the teacher saying class was cancelled due to an emergency, meaning I had a free period. Turning to head to the library, I bumped into Dr. Carlisle, the school psychologist, and one of the last people I wanted to see. The man was obsessed with getting me into his office for a 'friendly chat,' which in actual fact was an interrogation and him prodding at my private life for over an hour.

"Miss Swan, just the girl I was looking for," he said, smiling brightly at me. God, I hated when he did that. He was too damn gorgeous and could, and _would_, charm you into doing what he wanted.

"Hi, Dr. Carlisle. What can I help you with?"

"I saw Mrs. Foster had to leave and knew you would have a free period; therefore, I thought it best to fit in your appointment now rather than tomorrow morning. Care to follow me to my office?" He had given no option to say no, and I was stuck going with him.

I couldn't help but notice he wore a small smirk as we walked back to his office. It was as if he was celebrating a small victory, getting one over on me. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, I was going to ditch that appointment tomorrow. So, his smirk was like a victory dance, announcing to everyone that he had won this round.

Carlisle: 1 Bella: 0

I had never told Dr. Carlisle upfront, but I had implied on several occasions I found our appointments tedious and a waste of time. They were of no use to me, but he felt they were doing me some good. How he came to this conclusion was beyond me, yet, he wasn't the only one to think so. My father, along with most of my teachers, thought our appointments to be having a vast improvement on my attitude and behaviour. Rose and Jasper, on the other hand, despised the man for his so called 'influence' over me.

Shutting the door behind us, Dr. Carlisle took a seat behind the desk and I settled into my usual one, placed opposite him. It was a big green arm chair, soft and comfy. In most offices it would look out of place, but given the ostentatiousness about the entire school, it fit perfectly.

Dr. Carlisle cleared his throat and gave me a smile, while sitting back and waiting for me to speak first. Instead, I crossed my legs and placed my hands on my lap, looking him straight in the eye. He laughed and nodded, sensing the challenge. I was going to sit there for the whole hour in silence unless he spoke first.

"Okay, how has school been for you so far? It's the first day back, so new students, and old friends. How has it been?"

"It's been pleasant," I answered, glancing at the clock. We had only been there for three minutes. Fifty-seven left.

"Pleasant? Is that it?" he asked, still smiling away.

"Yes." Laughing again, Dr. Carlisle leaned forward on his arms.

"Bella, I'm not the enemy here. I want to help you. I thought we had come to some agreement," he said, waving his hand about. "Do you really want to go back to square one?"

"No, but to be honest, I don't think I need to be here." It was true. The only reason I still was seeing him was because Charlie insisted.

Dr. Carlisle ran a hand through his blond hair, a clear sign of discomfort. He was going to be blunt with me; it was about time.

"Bella, you know that you have to be here. This is what you agreed-"

"I know what I agreed to, Dr. Carlisle, but frankly, I believe I have paid my dues." He shook his head and stood up, walking round the desk. Leaning back on it, he reached down and took my hand.

"We both know that is not true." Giving my hand a squeeze, he watched as I glanced down at our hands, or rather, my hand. "Talk to me, Bella."

Fifty minutes left. Bugger.

"I saw there were new students. It's nice of the school to allow those less fortunate to attend." That was all it took for him to back off and crawl back behind his desk, and leave me be. I spoke mindless garbage to him, just to keep him happy, all the while trying to ignore my need to run my fingers down my wrist.

He had screwed with my head. I was doing so well before he got up in there and messed with me. The man was infuriating. I hated going to see him, sitting in that god-awful chair, that he could make me feel guilty, and I really hated that when I left the guilt didn't stay behind.

I never once mentioned Bronze, Frenchie, or my trip to the trailer park. He would just press me to speak to them more, be encouraged that I was making new friends, and most likely tell my father. Having anyone else involved in my business was just too much, and if I told one person about Bronze and my conversations, then the whole school would know. I wanted to keep it quiet, away from the ears of Jasper and Rose a bit longer.

Rounding down the session, I spoke of my classes, what I was looking forward to learning, and all the other things Dr. Carlisle was expecting me to talk about. We avoided the big issues and kept it light, yet I still felt like complete crap after his comment earlier. I had paid my dues, and he had no right to tell me otherwise.

"I think we did well today, but there is room for improvement. Let's keep your appointment tomorrow and I will see you here at nine. Enjoy the rest of your day." He rose and followed me out of his office. "It will get easier in time. Trust me, Bella." His hand on my shoulder gave a squeeze as I nodded.

"Still trying to work your way into Miss Swan's undies, Dr. C?" Jasper drawled, coming up the corridor, and draping his arm round my waist.

Dr. Carlisle frowned at him and stepped back, shaking his head and sighing.

"Mr. Whitlock, that is enough of that, please. Your comments are neither funny nor appropriate. They are a cry for attention. As you know, my door is always open to you." How Dr. Carlisle could keep his patience was unreal. Jasper's comments were completely out of line, yet he was always easy handed with him.

"Is your door always open for me?" Rose asked, licking her lips and running a finger over his arm.

"Indeed it is, though I would ask that another member of staff sat in with us during those meetings, Miss Hale." Dr. Carlisle moved further back into his office, retreating from the wolves.

"Oh, a threesome, kinky." Rose winked at him and then slid her arm round my waist as well. "Ready to get going, Bella?" I nodded and let them lead me away, turning my head briefly to mouth a sorry to Dr. Carlisle.

He knew what they were like, handled their misgivings, and was never angry. But I felt the need to apologise. They wouldn't have treated him like that, behaved in such a manner to him, if I was not there.

"What did the paedo want from you this time?" Jasper asked, sliding his hand further down my waist, onto my ass.

"To see how my day has been so far."

Rose snorted and shook her head. "Stupid bastard. I wonder how long it will take him to realise that after all the pleasantries, you're still Bella Swan, our Bella, and nothing has changed."

"Doubt he will ever realise that, darling," Jasper said, smirking. "The man just has no idea."

They led me through the halls and out to the car park. Jasper threw Rose his keys and she excitedly ran forward to his car, leaving us to trail after her.

"I take it we're skipping out on last period then?" I asked, scanning the lot for any teachers.

"Indeed we are. Rose and I feel that we need to have an afternoon together, just the three of us." He unleashed his eyes onto me and I knew what that meant.

Internally, I had slammed on the brakes and was dreading getting into that car. I didn't want to go with them, I didn't want the three of us to have the afternoon to ourselves, and I just didn't want to be a part of what they had planned.

"Hurry up, Bella!" Rose called, smiling while she revved the engine. Jasper had already walked round the other side of the car and was holding the door open for me.

"Coming, Princess?" _See you around, Princess. _Bronze's voice was as clear as day in my head. Why did Jasper have to ruin that name for me? The next time Bronze uttered it I was going to cringe.

With my two friends' watching eyes on me, I knew I couldn't disappoint them. Slowly I walked forward and then climbed into the car. I faked a smile to show them I was okay, but my stomach was doing summersaults. I hated myself for the power they had over me, and I hated myself for being so weak.

Hiding down in the comfortable leather seats I looked out the back windows at all the 'normal' students heading to class. I wanted to be one of them, not tied to two friends that cared more about drinking and partying than their grade point average.

The familiar sight of bronze hair brought a smile to my face, but it was short lived. Bronze's arms were round a much smaller girl, with long, black hair. Her back was to the car so I couldn't see who she was, but I guessed it was Frenchie. They obviously were close. Bronze's words from that morning just seemed like talk; he wasn't interested in me at all.

Rose drove off like a speed demon, breaking every speed limit and ignoring every stop sign. She had us at Jasper's in record time, and had even thrown in a few drifts while driving through Jasper's estate.

When she stepped out of the car, there was pure lust in her eyes. Wild driving drove her crazy, and Jasper was taking full advantage of that. His hands were up her shirt before the door was even open and they left a lovely trail of clothes behind them as they climbed the stairs. Rather than join the sex fest, I turned on the lights, put some food on, and gave them enough time to finish off.

Jasper's family was wealthy, like mine, except his father's business was global. Whitlock Arms was known for making reliable, well-made and good guns. Their wide range of firearms were popular, and in rolled the money. Along with firearms, Whitlock Arms also produced ammunition and some other special warfare items. All of that allowed Jasper to be the master of his own universe.

The estate on which he resided was built specifically for him, as his father preferred to live elsewhere and his mother was always engaged. The house was not modest by any means; it was too big, too grand for just Jasper. He had free run of the place, and as past experiences taught me, a teenager should never have access to a free house all the time.

"Bella!" Rose called, breaking my thoughts. I could hear the whine in her voice. Rose whining meant she was going to try and manipulate whoever was on the other end of that whine.

"What is it?" I called back, not moving from the kitchen counter.

"Come on up here, please!" Her voice gave me no clue as to what she could be after, so I reluctantly got up, turned the oven off so it didn't set fire to the pizzas, and climbed up the stairs.

The trail of clothes they had left led me straight into Jasper's room, where I found him laying lazily on the bed, naked as the day he was born, and Rose was leaning against the bed post in her underwear. The two of them were so inappropriate. They knew nothing of modesty.

"What is it?" I asked again, leaning on the door frame, completely ignoring Jasper until he put clothes on.

"Why did you leave us?" Rose pouted, pretending to act hurt.

"I got the impression three was a crowd." Jasper eyed me from the bed as he slowly got up and walked towards me. His movements were like those of a predator seeking its prey.

"Three is never a crowd, you know that darling," Jasper purred, pulling me into the room and slamming the door behind me. I fell forward, only to be held up by Rose's body, which was suddenly in front of me.

"You know we like it when you're involved," she whispered, biting her lip. Her hands reached out and began to lift up my jumper.

I took a deep breath and shut my eyes, blocking out everything. They removed my jumper, began to work the buttons off, and had trapped me in between their bodies. Rose was in front, Jasper was behind, pressing his body against mine. His hands were unzipping my skirt, and caressing my back, while Rose's caressed my stomach.

Like always, they led and I followed, even when I didn't want to.

"Relax, and enjoy yourself," Jasper whispered, nipping at my ear with his teeth.

Rose sunk to her knees and ran her hands up my legs; she tugged at my undies, which brought my focus on to her. Looking down at her, she bit her lip and smirked.

"Let yourself go."

Those three words, they were my downfall. Always.

* * *

A.N.

Huge thanks goes to Bliltxgirl and Bronzehairedgirl620 for their awesome beta'ing skills. Also, cheers to everyone that voted. My Sweet Thing won the public vote and Buff82 did a fantastic banner for the story which you can see over on TWCS library.


	3. Chapter 3: Fresh Start

**My Sweet Thing**

**Chapter Three: Fresh Start  
**

At approximately 7:50 am the driver dropped me off at school. I had arrived considerably early, but that was the only way I could avoid getting a lift from either Rose or Jasper. They usually arrived at my house at 8:10 am, but after last night I didn't want them coming.

I wasn't ready to discuss what had happened last night. It was too raw a wound to touch, so I was leaving it the hell alone, and in order to do that, I had to steer clear of Jasper and Rose. They would want to talk about it, _demand_ to talk about it, and I was not ready.

Arriving early ensured I had time to hide from them. They would check all our usual hang-outs at school if they were really looking for me, and I wanted to make sure they never found me. So, instead, I went to the one place they would never go. The old me would never have gone there, and they would never think the new me would either.

Opening the doors to the art department, I poked my head in and had a look around. Usually only art students were allowed access to the labs that early, and seeing as I had dropped art years ago, I was slightly nervous about being asked to leave. Mrs. Harbour, that old bat, hated me, and if she saw that I had put one foot inside she would chase me out with a broom.

Seeing the coast was clear, I quietly snuck into the closest art room. However, I was not alone. At the back of the room, behind a partition, I could hear the steady drumming of a sewing machine. Given that they couldn't see me I carefully walked over, trying hard not to make a sound. Peeking around the partition, I spied Frenchie working away. I sighed in relief, glad it wasn't Mrs. Harbour, and muttered a thank fuck; but in doing so, scared the crap out of Frenchie.

She jumped and gasped, turning around suddenly and looking at me like a deer in headlights. Upon seeing I was another student, she relaxed slightly. I bit my lip and cringed. What a way to make an entrance.

"Sorry!" I squeaked. "I didn't mean to frighten you; I thought you were one of the teachers."

"It's okay," she replied, turning off the machine.

Frenchie was very pretty up close; stunningly pretty. She was small, very short, but was perfectly proportioned. Her long black hair was to die for. I would trade my hair in any day of the week for hers. She had elegant features and beautiful eyes on her gorgeous face. I couldn't stop staring. Past experiences had opened me up to the beauty that is a girl and her body and right then I could remember why I had those experiences in the first place. It was girls like her that made straight girls turn bisexual.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" she asked, frowning at me. No wonder, given I was practically checking her out.

"Oh no, I'm just looking for a place to take cover. You're working; I can go somewhere else."

"I wouldn't mind the company actually," she said, surprising me. Laughing a little, Frenchie shrugged. "You're the first person to really talk to me."

That was just sad.

"I'm Bella." I took a seat behind the partition, opposite her working station.

"I'm Alice, and it's nice to meet you, Bella." Alice. A vast improvement on Frenchie.

Despite this girl being the one I saw Bronze with the day before, I couldn't hold my little bout of jealousy against her. She was, hands down, the prettiest girl I'd ever met. No wonder he liked her.

"So, what are you working on?" I asked, looking at all the fabric she had.

"As part of my portfolio I have to submit outfits towards the school fashion show this year. I thought I would get an early start." Wow, the girl had a good work ethic. I knew other students who wouldn't ever dream of starting their assignments early.

"Do you know what you will be making yet?"

"I've drawn sketches. Would you care to see?" I nodded and Alice leant down off her stool to get her bag. Pulling out a bunch of papers, she handed them to me, smiled, and went back to sorting out the fabric. I assumed she wasn't putting on the sewing machine out of politeness.

The sketches were unreal. Alice could draw and had a brilliant eye for designing. She had several mannequins on every page, each with different outfits. It ranged from evening gowns to sleepwear but all of it looked great.

"These are…awesome," I said, a bit taken aback by her talent. It made sense why she was a scholarship student; she was gifted. Which made me wonder, what was Bronze gifted at?

Mind out of the gutter, Bella!

"Thanks." She was smiling brightly at me and I couldn't help but feel dread for her. She was going to meet a whole load of people who were going to fuck with her.

"Hey, Alice," I began, biting my lip, "be careful, will you? There are students here who are not happy with you and Edward's presences and they are going to make their feelings known. Be careful, and try not to trust too many people. Many of them will act like your friends, but in actuality, they are looking for your weaknesses so they can use them against you."

Alice looked at me with her mouth slightly agape and eyes full of questions. She seemed speechless.

"I just don't want to see you or Edward get hurt, that's all." I bit my lip and sat there anxiously waiting for her to finally say something.

"Thank you," she muttered, shaking her head. "I suspected we weren't wanted here but I would never have thought people would befriend us only to hurt us."

"Yeah, some people are a real piece of work." Like Rose and Jasper. Ugh. I didn't want to think of them ever again.

"Why did you warn me?" Alice asked.

"Because you and Edward," gosh, it was weird calling him that, "do not deserve the treatment they have lined up for you. If I can do anything to prevent either of you from getting hurt, emotionally and physically, I will."

It didn't faze me in the least that Jasper would have some of his buddies take a few swing shots at Bronze, or Rose would send her pack of bitches after Alice. They were my friends, but they were also vicious and always got what they wanted, no matter what.

"Thank you," Alice said, looking at me gratefully.

"Don't mention it." I smiled back and actually felt like I had found some sort of ally. At least I knew if I messed everything up with Jasper and Rose I could always try and make friends with Alice. She didn't look at me like I was scum, which was refreshing.

"Excuse me, Miss Swan, but I do not recall you being an art student," a snooty voice behind me said.

Internally groaning, I turned and looked over at Mrs. Harbour. She was standing with her hands on her hips and that frumpy God-awful look on her face, the one that said, 'I will personally make your life hell if you mess with me.' Before I could open my mouth to reply, though, Alice spoke.

"Actually, Mrs. Harbour, Bella was just helping me out. I needed assistance finding everything so asked if she could help me. She's now helping me manage with all the material and fabrics," Alice explained, sitting perfectly straight and answering like she was the perfect private school student.

"Miss Swan, do not overstay your welcome." Then, with that, she left us.

Rolling my eyes I turned back to Alice, rather confused as to why she would help me out like that. It was clear from Mrs. Harbour's voice that I was no angel and she obviously didn't like me. Getting involved like that could have made her an enemy for Alice and being a new student that hadn't been a wise thing to do. So what caused her to cover for me?

As if reading my mind, she laughed and shrugged.

"You went out on a limb for me, giving me a heads up about other students. If others find out you did that I'm sure I won't be the only one with a target on my back. I figured it was only fair I help you out after that."

Self-preservation was a student mantra at Hopkins. We all knew to keep our heads down and out of trouble. The staff held a lot of power and to piss them off sealed your fate; you were doomed. I didn't know if Alice was aware of that or not, but what she did was something not many others would have, and that changed everything.

If I was to become this new me, the one Dr. Carlisle, my father and countless others wanted me to become, then I had to find friends like her. Jasper and Rose were decent friends, but they were all about the conflict and partying. I needed to get out of that, not bury myself deeper in it.

Looking at the girl across from me, I knew deep in my gut that if I ever needed something all I had to do was ask. She was a rare find, and one I was not going to let go down in flames. Whether she wanted it or not I was going to protect her, no matter what the outcome was.

"You're going to be late for class," Alice said, breaking me from my thoughts.

"What?" I asked, frowning.

"You're going to be late for class, the bell is about to ring." She pointed up at the clock and smiled.

"Oh, right. Yes, class." I stood up and walked to the door, my mind still on my thoughts. Realising I was being rude by just leaving, I turned back. "Thanks, and take care. I'll see you around." I gave her a proper smile for a change and then nipped out.

Alice was a very small fish in a tank full of sharks, and without any help, she was going to be eaten alive. Hopefully, with my help, she'd make it through the first month at Hopkins. I was silently praying she did, because without her, I didn't stand a chance of making it out of school alive, literally.

* * *

"_Bella? Bella, can you hear me? Fuck. Can someone get some fucking help?"_

"_Get her out of there."_

"_We can't move her, Rose. She's seriously hurt."_

"_We have to. She'll thank us for it later. Put her in my car. Come on!" _

"Miss Swan?" I gasped and looked up suddenly. Dr. Banner was frowning at me and the rest of my classmates were staring onward.

"Yes?" My voice quivered as I spoke and I could feel the adrenaline flying through my system.

"Dr. Carlisle wants to see you," he said, holding a note in his hand.

Nodding, I grabbed all my stuff and headed out of the room as fast as possible. Stupid memories, always haunting me. Could they not pick a better time than when I was in class? And what the hell did Dr. Carlisle want? I saw him this morning already. Could the man not give me a break?

"Swan," Jasper called, grabbing my arm as I turned in the direction of Dr. Carlisle's office. "You got my note then?"

"Your note?" Walking with him, he led me the other way and into the girls bathroom, one that was conveniently out of order.

"Yes, my note. Now, we need to talk."

I had avoided Jasper and Rose all morning, but of course they had contingency plans. I shouldn't have been surprised, but still, their actions knew no bounds.

"What is it?" I asked, exasperated. I did not want to talk with him, not at all. He was going to bring up last night, and frankly, I was done thinking about it.

"You know damn well what it is. What the hell was up with you last night?" He looked at me with confusion, leaning against the back wall as I threw my bag and books on the counter next to the sinks.

"Do we really have to talk about this?"

"Yes, we do. If not now, then Rose will ask, and you know her. She'll go straight to the root of the problem and I think we both know you do not want to talk about that." I pursed my lips, not saying anything. "Come on, Bella, help me out here. You've never had a problem with us all hooking up before. What's changed?"

"Maybe I have, Jasper. Maybe I don't want to do that, don't want to have sex with my best friends anymore, get pissed on the weekends to the point I black out, wake up in guys' beds not knowing how I got there, or getting high to the point I can't feel anything. Maybe I just want to be normal," I snapped, crossing my arms and glaring at him.

"Is this because I chose her over you?"

"Oh my God, no. It has nothing to do with that. I've changed; I'm different. I don't want to do the things I used to. I want to start fresh."

"I bet Jake would have wanted to start fresh, too," he replied, walking straight up to me. Jasper always was one to get in one's personal space.

"That was low," I growled, clenching my teeth.

"Fuck it," he said, dismissing it like it was nothing. "Rose is pissed. Think of some way to rectify this. And you know, my bed is always available if you'd like to continue what we started last night, without Rose."

"In your dreams." I shook my head at him and grabbed my things. "I know never to fall back into that snake pit." He just grinned like it was nothing.

"Oh, that's fine, I've got a new conquest to pursue anyway. My little French doll needs some seeing to."

"French doll?" My stomach became queasy at the mere thought he was referring to Alice.

"Frenchie.. I'm thinking a girl like her will only need a few fancy meals and then she'll be jumping into my bed, or snake pit, as you call it." He smirked at himself in the mirror, fixing his hair.

"Don't fucking go near her!" I barked, shoving him. Alice was much too kind to have to deal with Jasper. He'd break down every wall she ever had, make her feel loved, take what he wanted and then throw her to the side. No way was I letting that happen.

"Ooh, this is new," Jasper purred, slightly taken aback by my reaction. "What's wrong Bella, jealous?"

"Stay away from her," I repeated, ignoring his question.

He held his hands up in surrender and smiled. "You know, I think you just made this the most exciting chase yet. I'll be sure to call you after I've done the deed. You'll be the first to know."

His hands were not up in surrender; they were up in defence, as I found out when I lunged for him. He grabbed my wrists and slammed me into the wall.

"Don't be stupid, Swan. You don't want to take me on. Now, I will forget about this little indiscretion and not tell Rose. Consider yourself saved, because if she knew what you just did…well, let's just say someone would be getting a very upsetting phone call." Pushing off of me he checked himself in the mirror and then sauntered out, leaving me in a heap on the floor.

Jasper kept his word by not telling Rose. She greeted me at lunch with a smile. If she had known she would have smirked, taunting my impending doom. In return I gave her a small smile and sat down with them. Jasper was smiling happily at me like nothing had happened.

So that was it. We were going to pretend like nothing had happened and just move on. If that was how they wanted it, then so be it. I would pretend for as long as it suited me, until I could find a way to escape.

* * *

Thanks to Bliltxgirl and Bronzehairedgirl620 for beta'ing this. Both are bloody amazing.


	4. Chapter 4: Scooby Doo Genius

**My Sweet Thing**

**Chapter Four: Scooby Doo- Genius**

Yesterday was a nightmare for my nerves. What with Jasper's comments, the memory in class and everything else I had been dealing with, I was a wreck. However, today was going to be no different, as I found out when I went to my appointment with Dr. Carlisle.

As usual, he relaxed back in his chair, watching me constantly and tried to ease me into talking. At first it was the normal 'how are you?' and 'how are classes?' but then he brought out the big guns. Not ten minutes into the appointment, I wanted to run for the door.

"Bella, I want to talk about what happened last year and how that has affected this year," he said, pausing as though to give me time to let it sink in. "Have you thought about what this year might be like if you hadn't-"

"Of course I have," I said, cutting him off. I did not need him reminding me of what I did. I was well aware of it. _As if I could forget. _

"And what did you think about?"

"I thought about how I wouldn't have to be in these pointless sessions." I had thought about things in a lot more detail but as far as I was concerned, Dr. Carlisle did not need to know any of that.

"So you only care about how _your_ life has been affected?" I cut eye contact with Dr. Carlisle and looked at my lap. I wasn't going to rise to what he was saying. I wasn't going to give him the answers he really wanted. "That's rather selfish, don't you think?"

"I don't think," I replied, squirming in the chair.

"Why's that?" He asked, giving me his 'I'm listening' look.

Sighing, I shook my head and pursed my lips. I wasn't doing it. I wasn't talking to him. Dr. Carlisle gave me a sad look and then sat forward in his chair. Scribbling down a few notes in my file he let me sit in silence.

"You will have to talk about it eventually, Bella. It is not good to bottle things up."

"Bottle things up? You think I'm bottling things up?" I asked, incredulously.

"Well clearly you are. You won't talk about what happened. You won't even let me say it."

"No fucking wonder," I said, looking at him in disbelief. "If you had done what I did, would you want to talk about it? Would you want someone analysing your every thought and decision? Would you want to have to relive it over and over again every time you walked through that door? No, you wouldn't. So why do I have to? I've been punished enough, let me move on, for fuck's sake."

I clenched my jaw and tried to calm myself down. The adrenaline was running through my body, and I was practically shaking in the chair. Dr. Carlisle seemed to notice and was out of his chair immediately. He fetched me a glass of water and sat on the edge of his desk, watching me take slow sips.

"I don't mean to get at you, Bella, but I do have to ask you about this. It was a serious and very traumatic experience; you will need help getting through it."

"But Dr. Carlisle, I'm through it! It's been over eight months. Why can't we just drop it?" I pleaded, needing him to let it go.

"Answer me this first, Bella, and then I will consider dropping the whole subject." I nodded and sat up a little straighter. "And I want the truth."

"Of course. I promise you, I won't lie."

"How did you get to school?" I sagged back in my chair and looked down at the carpet in defeat. "That's what I thought," Dr. Carlisle said, going back round to sit in his chair.

Glancing up at the clock, I saw I had another thirty minutes to endure. There was no way I was going to last that long if he kept prodding at that old wound. As if knowing this, Dr. Carlisle sat back and gave me a small smile.

"Let's talk about something else," he said, interlinking his fingers. "Seeing as I always ask the questions, why don't you?" I frowned, not believing my ears.

"You'll answer any question?" Squirming slightly, Dr. Carlisle chuckled.

"Maybe not, but you are still allowed to ask." That sounded good enough.

"Did you always want to become a school psychologist?" I asked, thinking it best to ease him into it all.

"I never wanted to be one, ever," he replied, shaking his head.

"So how did you get here then?"

"I made a bad career decision at my previous job and this was my last option."

"What did you do?" It was a long shot but I asked anyway.

"That, you don't get to know. Anything else?" He looked rather amused. It was probably due to the fact that this was the most I had spoken to him in any of our sessions.

"Oh, we're just getting started. Are you married?"

"No, I am not."

"Kids?"

"None."

"No offense, but your life seems pretty boring." He laughed and nodded.

"It is. Now, may I ask you something?" Immediately I felt like he had led me into a trap. "I've been hearing from several students and members of the staff that you have spoken to the new scholarship students." Nodding, I waited for him to get to the point. "Do you think they fit in here at Hopkins?"

Fidgeting with my sleeves, I thought about lying. Dr. Carlisle would want to hear that they were doing well, making friends and fitting in easily. That just wasn't the case though. They stuck out like sore thumbs, didn't have any friends apart from each other, and were pariahs.

"No, they don't fit in at all." Dr. Carlisle frowned at that and nodded.

"Why do you think that is?"

"They're different. They don't have a trust fund coming their way when they hit twenty-one so no one wants to know them. Bronze, well he's different. He's not like other guys and walks to the beat of his own drum. Guys don't like that. Alice is lovely, but she's not rich enough to keep up with the latest trends so girls just don't want to know her."

"Bronze?" Dr. Carlisle asked, looking at me bemused.

"Oh, Edward. Sorry, Edward." I blushed and shook my head, realising my mistake.

A small smile came to Dr. Carlisle's face as he looked at me. "How did he become Bronze?"

"Before he came to school, I met him. I didn't know his name so I gave him a nickname." My blush increased as I explained it. He probably thought I was a complete idiot for doing that.

"Do you like them, Alice and Edward?"

"Yes, both of them seem very nice," I replied, nodding.

"How do they compare to Rose and Jasper?"

"Excuse me?" I didn't quite know what he was getting at and wanted him to explain.

"Are Rose and Jasper as nice as they are?" He looked at me, already knowing they weren't. Rose and Jasper were mean at the best of times. Though what he was going to get by me bad mouthing my friends was beyond me.

"They're different. Jasper and Rose don't have the same humble attitude as Alice and Edward."

"Are you also different, Bella? Or would you say you were more like Alice and Edward?"

Last year, I would have been different, just like Jasper and Rose, mean to the bone. This year, though, things weren't the same. A lot had changed, but I was nowhere near being like Alice and Edward. They both had an innocence to them I would never be capable of having.

"I'm a bit of both, I guess."

"But if you had to pick one?" He prodded again, wanting an answer from me.

"I'm Switzerland. I don't pick sides."

"Alright, okay. Let me ask you this, if you could be either one of them, which one would it be? Would you be like Jasper and Rose or like Alice and Edward?" He knew my answer already, he just wanted me to say it aloud.

"Alice and Edward."

"So you would rather be like two people you barely know than your best friends?" I didn't answer that. "Might I suggest, Bella, that you spend a little more time getting to know our new scholarship students and less time with Jasper and Rose? They are a bad influence on you, and that is not something you need when trying to start again."

If only he knew that it wasn't that simple. I would have if I could.

"I will see you on Monday; enjoy your weekend," Dr. Carlisle said, dismissing me.

Weakly, I stood up and grabbed my bag, my body drained from everything we had gone over. I had another ten minutes until I needed to get to class so I slowly walked back towards my locker.

While walking up the hall I saw the familiar flare of bronze hair walking among the students. Coming into view, Bronze gave me a smile and winked. I smiled back, unable to stop myself, and leant against my locker, waiting for him to walk over. He was grinning as he approached, and as usual, he confused me with his opening words.

"Asante sana Squash banana, Wewe nugu mimi apana!" he sang, smiling brightly at me.

"What?" I asked, chuckling. One day I was going to know one of his quotes.

"Rafiki, The Lion King."

"Ah, of course," I replied, biting my lip as I looked up at him. "Are we never just going to have a regular 'hi'?"

He looked at me as if I had just insulted him, but there was still a small smirk playing on his lips.

"Do my quotes not impress you?"

"Is that what they are meant to be doing?" I joked, laughing as he gasped and took a step back. The boy was all about the dramatics it seemed.

"Well, I was hoping they would impress you. Clearly I've not been doing a good enough job. I will need to step up my game." He smirked and leant on the locker, too, getting closer to me, not that I was complaining. "You know, you could always play along with me. I'm sure somewhere in that pretty head of yours there are a few movie or cartoon quotes running around," he suggested.

"You want me to play along?" I asked, biting my lip again. He was so unlike any other guy I had ever met, so free and relaxed. It was impossible not to have a smile on my face around him.

"Well, why not? Unless you're not up to the challenge." He raised his eyebrows at me and moved backwards. "It's alright if you can't do it; not many can."

"Oh no, I can do it," I said, rising to the challenge laid out before me. He smirked and moved forward again.

"You can, can you?"

"Of course."

"Great! Off the top of your head, right now, give me one." Excitement was dancing around in Bronze's eyes as he looked at me.

Glancing round the hallway I saw the number of students and sighed. There was no way I was going to have the courage to do my quote in front of everyone there. Bronze, having seen my mood change leant a little closer, placing his hand on my arm.

"Princess, it's just me. Forget about everyone else. Just let go, have some fun. Who cares what they think?" Bronze was, of course, right. "You can do it, throw it on out there."

"Does it need to be done in character?" I asked, remembering how Bronze's always were. If the quote was loud, he'd say it loud, if it was said with an accent, he'd use one. He replicated them brilliantly.

"Yeah! Or what's the point in playing?"

"Right, okay." I steadied myself and bit my lip, shutting my eyes. "Rooby Rooby Roo!" I howled, doing my best Scooby Doo impression.

Bronze burst out laughing and started clapping, killing me with his crooked grin. The other students in the hallway weren't as enthusiastic as him, though. Many looked at me like I was some crazy freak. I couldn't stop myself from blushing, despite laughing a little along with Bronze.

"That, my Princess, was fantastic!" He cried, holding his hand up for a high-five. I raised my hand and he slapped it with such joy I couldn't help but lose all the embarrassment I had been feeling moments before. "That is how I want our greetings to be. I quote, you quote." That was definitely something I could do. "Good choice, by the way. Scooby Doo is a genius," he added, nodding seriously.

Laughing, I shrugged and shook my head. "That was all I could think of."

"Doesn't matter. It was brilliant. Now, may I walk you to class?" I bit my lip in excitement and nodded.

"I'd like that." Bronze grinned and took my bag from me, slinging it over his shoulder as I got my books from my locker.

Together we walked through the halls, Bronze clearing a path for me to walk through as the place became crowded with students. Upon arrival at my class Bronze walked in and followed me to my seat, handing over my bag.

"Thank you," I said, taking it from him and putting it under the desk.

"You're very welcome, Princess. Enjoy class. I will see you around." I certainly hoped so.

Bronze left the room seconds before the teacher arrived, meaning he was late for his own. I felt a little bad about that and hoped he hadn't got in too much trouble. Next time, if there ever was a next time, I'd say bye at the door.

Class passed slowly and I was very relieved when the bell rang, signalling lunch time. Dumping my things back at my locker I headed to the lunch room, and after collecting my tray of food I joined Jasper and Rose at our usual table.

"What did I miss?" I asked, sitting down as they finished up a conversation.

"Jasper here was being his usual vile self and talking about the tits on Miss Karera, as if this was news," Rose replied, rolling her eyes.

"Hey! You seem to be underestimating how fantastic a view I had when she bent down. Her dress just opened for me, I swear. Best tits of any staff member, hands down," Jasper said, nodding vehemently.

"Who cares? It's not like you'll ever get your hands on them. Be realistic," Rose said, taking a small bite of her lunch.

"You're right, I should be focusing all my efforts on Frenchie." Jasper looked at me as he said this, and seeing Rose wasn't paying attention, I glared back at him.

"Are you really going after that piece of white trash?" Rose asked, disdainfully.

"Absolutely. Unless someone has a good reason why I shouldn't…Bella?" Jasper grinned as Rose caught my glare.

"What's going on?" she asked, putting her fork down and staring between us.

"Our dear Bella seems to have an issue with me going after Frenchie. She is rather…protective of her, I believe. Isn't that right, Bella?" I remained silent and internally shot Jasper a dirty look. He was a complete snake.

"Bella?" Rose pressed, looking at me carefully.

"I just don't think that Jasper should go after her. She's done nothing wrong, she keeps to herself, and she is of no harm to anyone."

"That's where you're wrong, darlin', " Jasper purred. "She's here, therefore she's automatically done us harm. She's trailer park scum and should not be here. I will help show her the door."

"Why can't you just leave her alone?" Jasper laughed and shook his head at me.

"Swan, she's dirt, and she needs to be treated like that. Why are you fighting this? You've never cared before." God, he was back to how I had changed, just what I needed Rose to know about.

"Yes, Bella, why do you care so much?" Rose asked. Looking at them both, I sighed.

"I spoke to her, and she's nice. Alice is not here to cause trouble, just learn, and she's entitled to just as good an education as the rest of us. Let's just leave her and Edward alone, and get on with our own lives."

"She's nice?" Rose asked, seeming genuinely curious.

"Yes, she's lovely. She's not stuck up or rude. She's kind." And just like that Rose's face changed. It looked as though she had just tasted something horrible.

"If she's so nice, Bella, then maybe she can give you a lift home afterschool." Rose stood up and grabbed her tray, walking away. Jasper followed suit, but before leaving the table he grinned at me.

"Cheers for telling me her name. At least I know which one to cry out when she's sucking me off. Enjoy the walk home."

Once again, the two of them had made me feel like crap. Bronze had cheered me up considerably after Dr. Carlisle's tough session, but they just had to shit all over that good mood. My mood was made worse by the fact Jasper was gunning for Alice.

It was times like that which made me realise just how much I hated Jasper and Rose, and what I would give to spend my time with Bronze and Alice. Sitting there alone, I had to wonder if it was ever going to be possible to be friends with them or if I was doomed to stick the rest of the year out with Jasper and Rose.

"Rooby rooby roo," I whispered.

No, it was possible to be friends with Alice and Bronze. The latter was already so kind to me, treating me like a friend and not an enemy. I was making progress and in the right direction. All that was left was to work out how to get away from Jasper and Rose.

Perhaps it was time I finally stepped up and faced the consequences of my actions, cause hell, that's what would come of ditching Rose and Jasper. Was I ready to do that? Nope, but I had to. Their poison had hurt me one too many times. Now was time to take a stand. Finally.

* * *

Thanks to Bliltxgirl and Bronzehairedgirl620 for looking this over. Much appreciated. Cheers for reading!


	5. Chapter 5: I Like You

**My Sweet Thing**

**Chapter Five: I Like You**

All night I had been freaking out, worrying constantly about what was going to happen once I walked away from Jasper and Rose. The two of them knew things about me I didn't want others knowing, and not the usual teenage stuff, but rather serious things that could land me in a heap of trouble.

My old self was not exactly one to follow the rules and the situation which landed me in Dr. Carlisle's office so often was something that no amount of apologising could fix. It was a black cloud, constantly hanging over me, and one I had managed to hide so only six other people knew. If news was to leak out about what had really happened then hands would be tied and my life would change, drastically.

I did not want that to happen. But how to keep Jasper and Rose's mouths shut was another problem. They wouldn't keep quiet for anything, and they would not want me to walk away from them, not after everything we'd all been through. During that turbulent time, they helped pick up the pieces and if I walked away it would be like I was throwing that in their faces.

On one hand I was tired of putting up with their abuse, but on the other I was indebted to them. Without their actions I would be a very different person right now. I just needed to play it low for a while; until I got things in order. It wouldn't do any good to rush everything and be caught with my pants down. No, I had to make sure that when I came clean, properly this time, things were going to run smoothly.

Calming my nerves was near impossible once Jasper's car parked out front of my house. He and Rose and were picking me up again. After lunch yesterday, I was expecting them to make me find my own means there but obviously they were over that argument pretty fast.

I grabbed my things and climbed into the vehicle, giving them both smiles as I did so. They greeted me like normal, Jasper nodding at me while Rose smiled. I responded like they would expect when they started insulting other students and kept up with the conversation, although my mind was a million miles away. It wasn't until Rose broke into a bright grin and cheered that I took notice.

"Today is going to be a fucking awesome day!" she hailed, laughing away to herself.

"That it will be, that it will be," Jasper drawled, grinning back at her in the rear-view mirror.

"Eh, what's so special about today?" I asked, turning to look at Rose in the back. She smirked and shook her head, looking rather sinister as she did so.

"Nope, you will just have to wait and see," she replied, shaking her finger at me.

She was in a playful mood and that worried me. Either Rose was high, which wouldn't be a surprise, or she was genuinely excited. Both of those were causes for concern when it came to her. Jasper's attitude wasn't much better. He had his cocky little grin going on. Whatever it was that had them so giddy was surely something I was going to hate; I just knew it.

_Suck it up. All you have to do is pretend to be friends with them until you sort this mess out. You can do_ _it._ Nodding to myself, I knew it was possible to go along with them. All I had to do was feign a little bit of interest and things would be okay; they'd still think of me as _their_ Bella.

It only took until third period to find out what had Jasper and Rose so hyped up. During Chemistry, in the middle of an experiment, a guy's phone went off. This was then followed by everyone else's. The beeps and vibrations were unreal, and constant. I checked mine, hoping to know what was going on, but there wasn't a text or anything. My lab partner, Angela, who had known me through my rougher times, noticed my frown and handed me her phone.

"It's a text from Jess, about the new girl," she said, shaking her head and sighing.

While Angela resumed working on the experiment I went to her messages and opened the one from Jess. It was a picture and a short message. The image was a little unclear, but from what I could make out it was Alice, except she was different. The long, beautiful black hair she had when I had met her in the art room was gone, and in its place was a haphazardly cut mess. The message itself read: _New girl got a haircut. Like it?_ Someone had taken scissors and cut it to pieces, and I instantly knew who that was.

That fucking bitch.

Collapsing back onto my seat I let the phone hang in my hand and shook my head. My fellow classmates were laughing and joking, enjoying the new turn of events, but all I felt like doing was crying. Alice was so kind, and yet Rose, who once was my best friend, had sought her out and hurt her.

The message may have been sent from Jessica Stanley's phone but Rose was the one to cut Alice's hair, I knew that for sure. Jess was Hopkins' Queen Gossip. She didn't have the guts to do something as ballsy as that. From Rose and Jasper's mood this morning, it was them. They had planned, executed and now were waiting on my reaction to this.

I may have told myself to go along with their thoughts and views but this had hurt. It felt like a personal attack on me, especially after I had told them how sweet Alice was. No, my temper wasn't going to hold itself back the next time I saw Rose. Yes, that would land me in crap loads of trouble but I was willing to deal with that. Alice needed at least one person to stand up for her, and I wasn't going to let her down.

The rest of Chemistry was a daze. I somehow helped Angela finish the experiment and clean up but I do not know how. My thoughts were on ripping that perfectly dyed hair from Rose's head. She was cruel, and she always had been, but before, I was willing to look past that detail.

When we were young, and I was foolish, Rose was the girl you wanted to be friends with. For some reason she took me under her wing and introduced me to a whole new world. A world of drugs, sex, drinking, partying, and losing yourself. There was nothing particularly bad about my life, hardly anything bad at all, before I met Jasper and Rose. But since being friends with them there are several skeletons in my closet.

One skeleton…Fuck, that sounded awful. One shameful situation I wanted to hide was the one they would rip open and show the world if I was to ever go against them. It was the secret I tried to hide, except after today, it seemed unlikely it would stay hidden much longer.

I left the chemistry classroom and headed straight to Dr. Carlisle's office. If I demanded to speak to him then he'd open his door for me. I needed to tell him about what happened, who had cut Alice's hair. Granted, I had no proof as of yet, but still, I wanted to let him know.

Unfortunately, I never made it to his office. In the hallway, on my way, Rose was standing with Jasper and the two of them were laughing and whispering. Jasper looked positively evil, his grin full of malice and his eyes dark and haunting. I got the impression that Alice's life was just about to get even harder. Jasper was going to sink his teeth into her soon.

"How could you?" I asked, walking up to Rose, glaring. I was clenching my fist and my jaw, trying to fight back my temper but failing.

"How could I what?" She asked, giving me an innocent smile. I had seen that before and wasn't fazed by it. If anything, her innocent smile just proved how guilty she was.

"Cut her hair!" I pushed her backwards, slamming her into the locker, and the atmosphere changed.

Before, it looked as though we were having a conversation, with me ranting about something. Now, it looked like I was going to attack her. Jasper had stepped back immediately and walked away, distancing himself quickly. Given that he was skating on thin ice at the school anyway it made sense for him to leave. He couldn't afford to get caught around any physical altercations.

"Don't fucking start something with me, Swan, you won't fucking win," Rose spat back, shaking her head at me. "She's fucking scum, you need to start opening your eyes. Keep away from her, and him. Get your fucking head in order." She shoved me in return and I fell backwards, still managing to stay on my feet.

"You're a cruel bitch," I said, trying to ignore the many eyes fixed on us. The news of Rose and I having an aggressive argument would be top gossip.

"No, Bella. You're just a stupid one, and if it wasn't for me, you'd be a dead one, too. Or do you not remember that night?" Rose cocked her head to the side and put her finger on her chin, pretending to be confused.

All the blood had run from my face, and a panic attack was setting in. I wasn't able to breathe, and I could hardly see. Colourful spots were appearing in front of my face and my legs became shaky. Stepping backwards I reached out for whatever I could find, and then leant against the wall.

"Shall I refresh your memory?" she said, continuing, "It was the night of Jasper's party; you surely remember that? We were all drinking, and some perhaps dabbling in a bit of Jamie's goods. You and Jake, oh well you and Jake were the perfect couple then, weren't you?"

"Stop," I choked, shaking my head vehemently. She needed to stop. She had to or I was going to have a very public breakdown.

"What's going on here?" Dr. Carlisle asked, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I didn't dare speak, and Rose seemed to have thought the same. She pursed her lips and shook her head before walking away. Dr. Carlisle seemed happy to let her go. With her gone the situation was calm again. The students who had been watching us turned away and went back to their business, and for anyone just entering the hallway they would never know what had just happened.

"Shall we talk in my office?" I nodded and followed Dr. Carlisle.

Arriving outside his office, I saw another student waiting by his door. The guy was a freshman, looking scared and as though he was about to cry. Dr. Carlisle could see the distress on his face and paused, turning to me.

"Have a seat out here while I talk to Mr. Masters."

The chairs outside Dr. Carlisle's office were nothing like the ones inside. They were the usual plastic school chairs that hurt your ass. I was hoping that young Mr. Masters wasn't going to take too long or else my ass was going to go numb.

After ten minutes of sitting there I figured I was going to be there for a while so took out my class notes and began working on my homework. Everyone was currently at lunch but I was happy to miss it. If I went into the cafeteria and Rose was there then another fight would take place. Plus, the gossip monsters were probably out in full force.

By the end of the day there would be stories going round that were completely implausible but everyone believed. Perhaps this time it would be Rose and I fighting over Jasper, because I was still in love with him, or perhaps one of us had become pregnant with his child and the other was jealous.

Whatever it was, it would make me look cheap and nasty. Rose always had a way of looking like the victim in these situations. And considering I was standing up for Alice, no student was going to take my side publically. Some would agree, but I would never know about it. No, the only support I was going to get was from myself.

"You have saved our lives! We are eternally grateful!" I lifted my head and couldn't help but smile. Bronze was standing a few feet away, his hands in his pockets and his shirt sleeves rolled up his arms.

"Toy Story," I replied, happy I had finally gotten one of his quotes.

Bronze laughed and shook his head. "Nope, Toy Story 2," he said, grinning.

"Oh don't be so pedantic." I patted the seat next to me and he came and sat down, causally leaning forward in the chair.

"I saw what you did." With those words my whole body froze. How was Bronze ever to like me after what he saw? I attacked another student, for all the right reasons, but he didn't know that.

"You did?" I asked, glancing over at him. He nodded and then shook his head, sighing.

"Princess, don't look so freaked. I heard everything you said. You stood up for Alice, that means a lot to us. I came to say thanks. So, thank you." He nudged my shoulder and smiled.

"You're not mad at me?" Bronze looked at me like I was crazy.

"Why would I be made at you, Princess? You stood up for my sister after some Truckers cornered her in the bathroom and chopped her hair off." I frowned and held back a smile.

"Truckers?" Bronze blushed and shook his head.

"Fuh-ers. My mammy would not be pleased if I cursed." I bit my lip to hide my grin but it escaped anyway. "Aww no, no don't you look at me like that, Princess. Yes, I'm a mammy's boy but that is not cute, sweet or any other similar adjective."

"It's adorable, and you know it." He continued to blush and shook his head.

"I am not listening to you." Laughing, I nudged his shoulder.

"How is Alice anyway? Wait, your sister? Alice is your sister?" Bronze gave me a bemused look and nodded slowly.

"I thought you knew that."

"No!" I dropped my shoulders and bit my lip. All this time I was convinced they were best friends, or even dating. My worries were completely unfound. God I felt stupid.

"Does it matter?" Bronze asked, looking at me carefully.

"Well, it did. I thought…never mind what I thought." Shrugging, I shuffled the notes on my lap and put them into my bag again.

"No, no! What did you think?"

"I thought…well I thought she was…you know, your girlfriend or something." I blushed and sighed while Bronze laughed softly next to me.

"You're cute, Princess. But, just so you know, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. The only girl I'm interested in is you. I may not be pursuing you through big, fancy, romantic gestures but I am sneaking my way through your defences. I like you, Princess. I like you a lot, and some day you're going to like me, too." Giving my knee a squeeze he got up and started to leave.

"I'll see you around, Princess," he called back, just before leaving my sight.

Whether Bronze knew it or not, I already liked him. I liked him a lot. And after today, I was going to try and sneak my way through his defences. One way or another, I wasn't going to let him pass me by, no matter what. Rose and Jasper's threats be damned.

* * *

As always, thanks goes to my amazing beta, Brandy (Bliltxgirl). Cheers!


	6. Chapter 6: By God, Sir!

**My Sweet Thing**

**Chapter Six: By God, Sir!**

Bronze's timing yesterday was superb, because the second he left Mr. Masters came out of Dr. Carlisle's office, snivelling to himself before running off. I didn't want to know. Grabbing my things I headed in and took a seat.

Dr. Carlisle had my file out and was writing things down, most likely related to what had occurred in the hallway with Rose. I did not regret attacking her, she deserved it, that was for sure. The only problem I faced was explaining to Dr. Carlisle what actually happened without landing Rose in a heap of shit.

Yes, I wanted to rat on her but in doing so she would just fire off every piece of ammunition she had against me. Hell, she had started airing my problems in front of everyone just because she felt threatened, if she was actually in trouble then God only knows what she would do.

"So Bella, do you want to explain what happened between Miss Hale and yourself?" Dr. Carlisle asked, leaning forward like usual. The man was rather predictable. When he sat forward he was interested, when he sat back he wanted you to open up to him.

"Not particularly, no," I replied, smoothing down my skirt and picking the lint off it.

"Come on Bella, you know I need more than that. When I arrived you were practically crumbling into a pile against the wall and Miss Hale was looking at you venomously. I have every right to take you and her to the Head Master's office and have it out there. What happened?"

"Do you know what happened to Alice Cullen?" I asked, completely ignoring what he said.

Dr. Carlisle sighed and sat back in his chair, throwing his pen on the desk. "What does that have to do with anything? Do you know what happened to her?" His eyebrows rose in question.

"Just answer the question. Do you know what happened to Alice?" I repeated. I needed to know what she had told the staff members. Bronze had said she was cornered in the bathroom, but did she tell the teachers that?

"Her hair was cut off, that is all I know. She said she never saw who did it. So why don't you tell me; who did it, Bella?" Alice didn't want them knowing, for whatever reason, so I was going to honour that.

"I don't know," I replied, going back to removing the lint off my skirt. Dr. Carlisle sighed and ran one of his hands over his face in exasperation.

"Bella, why must we go twelve rounds every time you're here?" I pursed my lips and started examining his bookcase. "You do know that I have enough…evidence, for lack of a better word, against you that I could have you expelled and in police custody within two hours, right? So why don't you talk to me? For once, forget about your life and think of someone else's. Help me help Alice by telling me who cut her hair."

I sneered at him and shook my head. Dr. Carlisle just lost major points for the stunt he pulled. How dare he hold my past over my head like it was nothing to him? Yes, I had royally screwed up but I was paying for it, and I always would. Throwing that out there like it was nothing was a stupid mistake to make. I wouldn't forget it.

"Trying to blackmail me now, is that it?" I spat, crossing my arms over my chest and glaring at him.

As if realising what he had just said his face dropped and he reached for his tie, loosening it. Undoing the collar buttons of his shirt Dr. Carlisle sank back into his chair and looked lost.

"I…Bella, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that." Damn fucking right he shouldn't have.

"If you have all that 'evidence' then why don't you just hand me over? Why don't you just march me down to the sheriff's office and have them lock me up, huh?" Dr. Carlisle swallowed loudly and shook his head.

"I know that whatever punishment you are giving yourself is more than enough. I didn't mean for it to seem like I was trying to blackmail you, Bella. I just hate seeing students like Alice, who work hard, get torn apart at this school because they're not of the 'right' social standing. "

"Don't you think I hate that, too? But ratting on whoever cut off her hair will not make things easier for Alice. They're testing her. She rats and they go in for the kill. If she keeps her mouth shut then she'll maybe make it another month."

"Is that why you and Rose were arguing? You hate the situation that bad?"

"What Rose and I were arguing about has nothing to do with this."

"I don't believe that," he replied, shaking his head. "I think it has everything to do with it."

"Well, you think wrong."

Just because Dr. Carlisle was right about this didn't mean things would change. He couldn't prove Rose was in there any more than he could prove than he could prove Jamie was the school drug dealer. Both attempts to get Jamie kicked out failed massively and lost Dr. Carlisle much respect. After all, when you go after the Mayor's son in such a way, and are proved wrong, then you know you're going to lose a lot of friends.

"What was the argument about?" he asked.

"I'm changing and Rose doesn't like it," I answered, thinking that was enough to get me off the hook.

"She doesn't like it cause you're now standing up for the underdogs? Because you're getting in her way at ridding the school of the 'white trash'? Is that why she doesn't like it?"

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, taking deep breathes and closing my eyes. The man was insufferable at times.

"Stop beating a dead horse, please." I rarely ever used the word 'please' with Dr. Carlisle, so I was hoping he would note the significance of my request. I just couldn't keep having the same conversation with him. The answers he wanted were not mine to give.

"Okay, Bella. I'll stop, for now. Did you and Miss Hale just argue?" Picking up his pen Dr. Carlisle started jotting down notes in my file.

"Not exactly," I replied, biting my lip. If I lied we would go back ten steps rather than move forward one. Dr. Carlisle would probably find out by the end of the day that I had shoved Rose into the lockers and that she had shoved me back. That was not something I could easily hide due to the gossip mongers.

"Not exactly?" Dr. Carlisle rose one eyebrow and looked up from my file. "What do you mean by 'not exactly'?"

"I may or may not have pushed her, and she may or may not have pushed me back." Pushed was an easier word than shoved. Shoved implied violence, pushed was a little kinder….sort of.

Dr. Carlisle dropped his head into his hands and groaned. "Bella, are you trying to get expelled?"

"Of course not."

"Then why, for the love of God, are you starting fights? You know that Hopkins has a no violence policy. You need to be punished for your actions, you and Miss Hale, and with your record the only punishment that seems suitable is expulsion."

"Surely they won't expel me! I mean, I didn't even draw blood!" I argued, panicking. "Plus, Dr. Carlisle, I've changed! My grades have improved, I'm attending nearly all of my classes, and I never miss any homework or assignment deadlines. I've changed, they can see that right?"

"It's not up to me. I have to hand that decision over to the Head Master."

"Why the Head Master? Why not my tutor?" I asked, knowing the Head Master would sink my ship entirely and boot me out.

"Because after last year, Mr. Whitlock, Miss Hale, and yourself are all on his watch list. He knows that the three of you are no angels and is waiting for you to slip up. Was Mr. Whitlock present during this fight?"

"No, he left," I replied, sulking a little. When Charlie found out about this he would have me hung, drawn and quartered.

"Well, lucky him, he's off the hook. As for you and Miss Hale, well, the Head Master will determine your fate." Dr. Carlisle closed my file and moved it to the side of his desk. "Head off to classes now and try not to get yourself in any more trouble, okay?" I nodded and got up silently.

At the door I paused, hand on the door knob, and turned back to him. "Why have you never gone to the police about what happened?"

Dr. Carlisle gave me a soft look before speaking. "What's the point of throwing away another innocent life? You're sorry for what you did; I know that, you know that, and you're working hard to change yourself. Throwing you in jail wouldn't accomplish anything. You have a second chance, I don't need to tell you to use it wisely." With that Dr. Carlisle dismissed me. "Shut the door on your way out, please."

Nodding I left and like he asked, closed the door. Pulling my bag further over my shoulder I headed off to class to see out the rest of the day. He was right, where I had a second chance, others didn't. I had to use it wisely, and make up for the errors I had previously made. I liked to think that standing up for Bronze and Alice counted towards that.

* * *

Like I had expected, yesterday afternoon was hell. I was stared at in every class, and like I predicted, all the rumours going around were about Rose and I fighting over Jasper. Pft, the student body needed to get more creative, as if I would ever touch that snake again. Hell, I'm ashamed to admit I used to like the guy.

As bad as yesterday was though, I knew today was going to be worse. Alice and Bronze had magically disappeared during the afternoon and today they would be out on show. I actually didn't expect Alice to be at school but as I was getting dropped off I saw her and Bronze part ways. She was heading into the art department, while Bronze was heading into the main building.

Thanking my driver, I got out and followed Alice, hoping to get a chance to talk to her. I wanted to make sure she was okay after yesterday. Those bitches would have made their intentions very clear while they cut her hair off and that had to be rather traumatic, especially if she was jumped.

"Alice?" I called, walking into the art lab. She was peeking round the partition, looking at me carefully. I gave her a friendly smile and walked over, immediately pulling her into a hug. I surprised her, and myself, by that move. "Are you okay?" I asked, stepping back and exiting her space.

"Yeah, I'm okay," She replied, her hand coming up and mushing up the back of her hair.

It was so different than the long hair she had before. Gone was the shiny, sleek, straight black hair I had envied the first day I met her, and in its place was a short and spikey cut. Obviously, there wasn't much hair to work with after she was jumped, so she couldn't do much with it. But, with what she had, it looked good on her. I still missed her long hair, and most likely so did she, but she easily pulled off the shorter cut.

"It'll grow back," I said, trying to be comforting and taking her hand from tugging at her hair. Alice smiled sadly and nodded.

"I know, but then they'll just cut it again. People are going to laugh at me, Bella." I felt defeated, seeing her so sad. Rose had gotten to her, badly. It was as if she knew how much Alice seemed to take pride in her hair.

"Fuck people. You look good, don't let anyone tell you different." She nodded at my words but I could tell her heart wasn't in it. "Alice, trust me, if you hold your head up straight and make it look like you're not bothered, it will take the wind out of their sails and they'll be screwed. They are looking for a reaction, for you to be sad, so they know they've won. Don't give them that. "

"You're right," she replied, nodding firmly. "She's good," Alice said, looking at someone behind me. I turned and saw Bronze sitting on a desk. Hell, I hadn't even heard him come in.

"By God, sir, I've lost my leg!" he cried, grabbing at his knee. I cocked an eyebrow while Alice rolled her eyes. "By God, sir, so you have!" Bronze said, in a different posh English accent.

"Okay, I have no clue," I said, frowning.

Bronze grinned and jumped down, walking over to us. "Henry Paget at the Battle of Waterloo. A cannon shot his leg off, and he called out to the Duke of Wellington who was standing nearby 'By God, sir, I've lost my leg!' as if nothing had happened. The Duke, of course, replied with 'By God, sir, so you have!'. It's not a movie or a cartoon quote, but I thought it was fitting."

"Very fitting," I replied, smiling at him and then turned back to Alice. "You need to act like it was nothing, that getting your hair cut was just a shock, but not a serious problem. Can you do that?"

"Be the Paget, Alice," Bronze said, nodding seriously. Laughing, I shot him a quizzical look and shook my head.

Alice just rolled her eyes at her brother and looked to me. "I can do that. These Bazzars aren't getting to win."

"Bazzars? Is that like Truckers?" I asked, looking between the two of them.

Bronze grinned and nodded proudly. "It's exactly like Truckers."

"Yeah, our mom would kill us if she caught us swearing, so we thought it best to replace those words in our vocabulary. I use Bazzars for…well, you know, and Edward uses Truckers for Fuh-ers. It actually works rather well," Alice said, smiling at her brother.

"Indeed. We haven't gotten in trouble for cursing in ages," Bronze added, nodding happily. "Speaking of getting in trouble, did you get in trouble, Princess, for fighting yesterday?"

"Jury is still out on that one, sadly. The Head Master will decide today."

"The Head Master?" Alice repeated, frowning. "Whatever could you have done to have him decide your punishment? I thought your homeroom teacher dealt with it."

"Tutors usually do. It eventually comes to a point where the Head Master takes over," I shrugged it off, but felt a little uncomfortable with Bronze's eyes on me. It was like he was searching for something, staring at me intently.

"You'll be okay though, right? I mean, you were standing up for me, that has to count for something," Alice said.

"Well, they don't know that I was standing up for you, so probably not."

"You didn't tell them, Princess?" Looking between the two of them, I shrugged and then shook my head.

"I thought it would make the situation worse for you, Alice, so I didn't say."

Bronze whistled and nodded, looking a bit lost. "That was mighty kind of you, Princess. You know you didn't have to do that, right?"

"I know, but you're my friends, I wouldn't want to make things hard for either of you." Their silence unsettled me. "We are friends, right?"

My heart was beating a million miles an hour. I could hear it thumping in my ears and thought for sure they could hear it, too. Their blank looks scared the crap out of me. Maybe I had miscalculated the situation and they didn't think we were friends. Maybe they didn't want to be friends with someone who used to hang out with Jasper and Rose.

"Of course we are," Alice said, suddenly hugging me tightly. "Thank you," she whispered. I was so confused as to what had happened that all the air had been knocked out of my lungs when she hugged me.

"Why are you thanking me?" I asked, trying to catch my breath again.

"Alice, let the girl breathe," Bronze said, chuckling. Pulling Alice off me, he put his arm round my shoulder and pulled me close. "She's thanking you cause you're first friend we've managed to make, everyone else seems intent on getting rid of us. It's nice to have one ally."

Alice nodded with what Bronze had said and gave me a bright smile. "It really means a lot to me." Bronze coughed loudly. "I mean, it really means a lot to _us_, that you would want to be friends with us." She gave Bronze a pointed look at being interrupted but continued smiling.

"Why wouldn't I want to be friends with the two of you? You're the only honest and genuine people here." Alice blushed and thanked me once again, while Bronze just gave me a little squeeze.

"We're glad that you think so, Princess. Now, with you having saved us from painfully trying to work out if you liked us, we would like to invite you to a party tonight. I know it's short notice but this is our first week, and we honestly didn't think anyone would be interested in hanging out with us. Are you interested?"

"A party? What kind of party?" I asked cautiously, feeling nervous already.

I was done partying. I had been there and experienced all it had to offer. I had done the cocktails, the shots, the body shots, the joint, the coke, the dirty dancing, the risky sex, and the heavy morning hangovers. I didn't want to go back to that.

"Every Friday the folks where we live have a gathering. There's a barbeque, plenty of food and drink, dancing and just people relaxing after a long week. It's a casual thing. Not exactly your average high school party, seeing as the average age there is about sixty, but it's great fun," Alice said, biting her lip anxiously.

"If you don't want to go," Bronze began, "then that's okay." He had started to take his arm off my shoulder and move away.

"No! I want to go! That sounds great! Exactly what I need, a relaxing night. I really wasn't looking for it to be a wild party," I said, smiling at both of them.

"Great!" Bronze said, putting his arm back round me.

Alice grinned and nodded. "Thanks, Bella. It starts at eight o'clock, at the trailer park. Edward says you've been there before?" She was nervous again, as if hearing where it was would instantly put me off.

"Yeah, I've been there," I replied, nodding.

"Good, just come to the main drive and Edward will be there waiting," Alice said, looking at her brother in question.

"Yep, I'll be there, your strong, strapping date," he said, joking, but inside my stomach was filling with butterflies. God how I wished this was actually a date. I would love to go on a date with him. Hell, even just having his arm round me felt great.

"See? He'll be there, and we'll introduce to everyone. They'll love you." I wished I had the same confidence. I was pretty sure that once they found out I was Charlie Swan's daughter they would kidnap me and sell me back to him for their homes, but screw it, I wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to hang out with Alice and Bronze.

"Well, we should all probably go, class is about to start," Bronze said, removing his arm. I felt like pouting at losing contact with him but held it back, barely.

"Yeah, I don't want to be late, that's not what I need right now," I replied, nodding at them. "I'll see you both tonight, if I don't see you later. Okay?"

"Yep," they said, almost in unison, and then I left.

My first class was nothing exciting, and the second was about the same. The rest of the students whispered and shot me looks but none of them approached me to ask about what had happened between Rose and I, thankfully.

I was lucky enough not to have her in many of my classes either, which made things easier. I knew that with the two of us in the same room everyone would be looking for another confrontation to happen. That just wasn't likely. I needed to be on my best behaviour. The Head Master would not look kindly upon me starting another fight.

On my way to third period, Dr. Carlisle spotted me and motioned me over. I fought the urge to just ignore him and run, desperately wanting to do so. He must have seen my dejected look because he shook his head and gave me a smile.

"A little birdy saved you," he said, leaving me confused. "The Head Master had a visit this morning and it seems he was happy enough to hand your punishment off to me. One week's lunchtime detention, starting Monday, for fighting with a fellow student, you got that?"

I was speechless. What the hell? "Yes, I got it. Thank you!" I said, smiling at him widely. He held his hands up in surrender.

"It wasn't me. It seems that you made friends with the right people this time." Smirking at me, Dr. Carlisle walked away, leaving me dazed.

Had Alice or Bronze told the Head Master about why I had started the fight? Would they really do that, even though it was going to cause them so much more trouble? If Rose found out it was them, they'd be in deeper crap. But maybe, just maybe, that's what friends did; stood up for one another when they were in trouble or needed help. With Rose or Jasper, the common rule was to save yourself. This was a nice, and welcomed, change.

With the burden of possibly being expelled off my shoulders I held my head up a little higher and went off to class. At lunch I saw Alice doing the same, her hear up high, as if nothing had changed. She was doing a brilliant job of acting unfazed, if Rose's face was anything to go by. She looked confused and angry, obviously expecting a weak and wounded girl to come limping through the cafeteria doors.

I ate my lunch by myself, in the corner of the cafeteria, happy to have one moment of peace. Things actually looked good. I had friends, proper friends, and that brought on a whole new feeling, one I couldn't even describe. It just felt amazing.

Of course, my old 'friends' didn't seem quite done with me. Interrupting my quiet lunch was Jasper, strolling casually over, smiling at me the whole time. Taking a seat opposite me he leant back his chair so it was on two legs instead of four, and held onto the table for support.

"Hiya darlin'," he drawled, smiling wickedly at me. "Rumour has it that you and Rose are fighting over me. Is that true? You miss your Jasper?" I felt physically sick at the thought.

"No," I spat, shaking my head vehemently. "Not at all. She can have you. I want nothing to do with you."

"Don't be like that, darlin'," he said, blowing me a kiss. "There is enough of me to share."

"Ugh, please. Why don't you get lost and leave me alone?" I asked, feeling tempted to kick him hard so he fell backwards.

"I actually came over here to build bridges, you know, extend the olive branch."

"Oh?" I was mildly curious as to what he came to say.

"There's a party on tonight, my place, as usual. Rose is happy to have you there, and would see it as your way of making amends. Jamie will be around, with his best goods, and yours truly will be supplying all the booze and sex you could want. So what do you say? Shall we give you a lift to mine afterschool?" Jasper genuinely seemed confident I would say yes. Oh how wrong he was.

"Actually, I have plans already," I replied, taking a bite of my food.

Dropping the chair back on all fours, Jasper cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes at me. "What do you mean you already have plans? What _plans_ could you possibly have?" He practically spat the word 'plans' at me.

"I'm going to a party."

"Whose?" Now he was really getting annoyed. No one dared throw a party on the same night as Jasper. It was just not done.

Keeping quiet, I continued to eat. There was no way I was going to tell him who it was with. He'd crucify them, and all because he was jealous and didn't like to share his 'toys'.

"It's with _them_, isn't it?" he asked, sneering. Leaning back in his chair once more he dropped his head back and sighed loudly. "What are we going to do with you, Bella?"

"There is nothing to do. I'm happy, so leave me alone."

"No, you're not happy. You can't be happy. You're not even talking sense."

"No, the only person who isn't talking sense is you, Jasper. I'm making perfect sense. I don't want anything to do with you and Rose, why can't you see that? I'm moving on with my life, you should, too." I grabbed my tray and walked away.

If they didn't get the message after that then there was something seriously wrong with them.

Despite Jasper's rude behaviour, I didn't let it spoil my mood. I was excited about the night ahead. Granted, I was also petrified, but once I got there I was hoping things would mellow out for me. It would be my first party without sex and drugs being a must on the menu. Heck, even drink might not be on the menu. It sounded like my perfect night, especially since I got to spend it with two great people.

By the time classes ended I was giddy and jumped into my driver's car with such excitement he looked at me a little shocked. Smiling at me in the rear-view mirror he nodded and said, "It's good to have you back, Miss Swan. I thought we had lost you for a moment there."

Grinning back, I bit my lip and shook my head. "I finally feel like I'm back, thank you."

Clearly he had also noticed my slight change, though that wouldn't have been hard for those paying attention. I had barely cracked a smile in the last eight months; seeing me that excited must have been a shock. It actually felt good to smile again, and it was happening more often, all thanks to the Cullens.

Once at home I went straight to my wardrobe. What to wear was a problem. Most of my clothes were ostentatious, and tonight I wanted to hide, as it were. Rather than stand out I wanted to be just like one of them, as if status and money played no part in my life.

Unfortunately my wardrobe was limited, but I did have a few summer dresses that looked promising. Selecting the dark blue one with a small floral pattern, I placed it on the bed and then hunted out a red cardigan to go with it. Finding flat shoes was also a bit of a challenge but, thankfully, at the back of the wardrobe, was a pair of nice blue flats.

The outfit worked, it made me look casual and normal, for a change. Hopefully it wasn't too over dressed for what was planned tonight. After all, I had no clue what they had in store, but I wanted to fit in. Maybe I should have asked what the dress code was. _Too late now. _It would just have to do.

Getting ready, I had a quick shower, dried my hair and let it do its own thing, before getting dressed and heading downstairs. Spotting my father's briefcase on the kitchen countertop I looked round for him. He was nowhere to be found. He must have come in while I was in the shower as usually he said hello.

Taking a seat at the counter I packed my bag, throwing in lip gloss, my phone and some money. There was no need for me to carry much, and I would have left my phone if I could, but I needed it to call the driver to pick me up. Though, thinking about it, the driver probably would stay in the car while I was there.

"Bella?" Charlie called, breaking my thoughts about perhaps trying to drive again.

"I'm in the kitchen!" I called back, seeing him come from the back of the house, where his study was located.

"We need to talk, Bella." God, that didn't sound good, at all. "I hate to do this to you, Bella, but it's for your own good. You're grounded."

"Whoa! What? Why?" I asked, completely shocked. Where the hell had that come from?

"I got a very worried call from Miss Hale. She told me that you've been acting strange and that you were going to do something reckless again. We've been over this, and I thought we had moved on. Clearly you haven't, so you're grounded." Charlie nodded, asserting his decision, and then brushed his moustache. I knew that to be the final nail in my night's coffin. That signature move told me he wasn't going to change his mind.

"Dad, what are you talking about? I'm not going to do anything reckless. I'm going to a party where I won't be drinking, or doing any drugs, or anything else. I'll be having a good time, in a safe environment."

"A safe environment? You call the trailer park safe? Pft. No. You're not going, and that is final. Hanging out with those miscreants will not help your future. Rose was right to be worried."

"Rose? Rose? Rose is a poisonous bitch!" I cried, slamming my hands down on the counter. It stung like hell but it helped fuel my anger.

"Watch your language. She is no such thing. She is your friend, who is very worried, and I am, too! God, Bella! You nearly died eight months ago because you didn't listen when your friends warned you, so I am not having you make the same mistake twice and risk losing you. You're grounded for this weekend. I do not want you hanging out with those pieces of filth. Do you understand me?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I understand," I ground out, feeling the tears stinging my eyes.

Whatever Charlie thought he knew about eight months ago was wrong, so very wrong. He got the edited and cleaned up version told to him by none other than Rose. She had told him I had started hanging out with a reckless group of students and they had risked my life by challenging me to do crazy things, one of them leaving me fighting for my life.

What actually happened that night was completely different. Under the advice of Jasper and Rose, I snorted enough coke to knock out an elephant, then decided to go street racing round Jasper's estate with a bunch of others. It didn't end well, but rather than get caught, Jasper and Rose cleaned up the mess.

There were so many dirty little secrets buried within our _friendship_ that it made sense when they went back to their manipulating ways. I knew just as much about them as they knew about me. Even with that in mind though, it hurt like hell to know they had control over another aspect of my life.

They were dictating who I could be friends with, and Charlie's actions. After all, Charlie was never going to believe the real story of what took place that fateful night, especially since it would cast a bad light on his perfect daughter. He would never accept the truth, and they knew that, so used it against me.

Climbing the stairs I let the tears fall. I was completely trapped. They had me caged in. I was either friends with them or friends with no one. Fucking hell, I just wanted to hang out with two people who actually liked me for me, was that too much to ask?

Wiping the tears away I lay on my bed and tried to stop the tears, but to no avail. Bronze and Alice were going to hate me now, for standing them up. My one chance of escape, to find myself, went down the drain with their friendship, and all because of Rose.

God, I hated her. Hated her with a passion. Starting Monday, I was going to make her life as hellish as she was making mine. The bitch was going to get what she deserved.

* * *

Thanks to Bliltxgirl for beta reading this and making it nice and pretty!


	7. Chapter 7: Warning

**My Sweet Thing**

**Chapter Seven: Warning**

On Monday, I knew things were not going to go well, but I was hoping they at least wouldn't be a complete train wreck. Seeing as I had missed Bronze and Alice's party, I knew I had to make things up with them so made sure I was ready for school much earlier than I normally would have been. The driver had no problem taking me in early, but did give me a worried look in the mirror.

"Gone again?" he asked.

"Yeah, gone again," I replied, in reference to my smiles. He nodded and sighed, shrugging a little.

"Don't let others get you down. Whatever brought out that smile on Friday, hold onto it tight. It's the happiest I've ever seen you."

I thanked the driver and we remained silent the rest of the drive. He was right, that was one of the happiest moments I could remember, the shear excitement at hanging out with my proper friends. Now, those proper friends probably hated me.

Trying out the usual spot when I arrived at school, I went straight to the art department. The partition was up, blocking Alice from sight, but I walked over and sat down opposite her. She gave me a sad look and continued working away on the stitching she was doing.

"You didn't make it," she said quietly, not looking at me.

"I know, I'm sorry. My father grounded me," I replied, trying to convey how sorry I really was. "I would have been there if I could, trust me. I wouldn't have missed it."

She gave me a careful look and then nodded. "Don't worry about it; we can always do it another Friday night." Smiling, Alice returned to her work.

Just like that I was forgiven, which shocked the crap out of me.

"Is that it, seriously?" I asked, frowning at her.

"What do you mean?"

"You're not going to yell at me, or bitch me out for missing it?"

Alice frowned in return and shook her head slowly. "Why would I do that? You said you were sorry and you meant it, I forgive you."

Relaxing, I sunk down a little on the stool and nodded. "Thank you," I said, biting my lip. "I honestly didn't think you would look at me again, let alone talk to me."

"We're friends, Bella. I'm not going to throw that away because you couldn't make it to one party."

God, Alice was so different compared to Rose. It was amazing.

"Okay, what can I do to help?" I asked, motioning towards the dress she was working on. "I'm not just going to sit here and watch you work, so show me what to do."

Laughing Alice told me to drag my stool round and sit next to her. Next, she told what to stitch onto the dress she was making for the school fashion show, and then added that if I didn't want to help then I didn't have to.

Together we sat for a little over half an hour, working away on her dress, and talking about our fellow students. I filled Alice in on all the background information she could ever possibly need to know about who's who in Hopkins, and she asked me about how I knew many of the wild and somewhat crazy gossip.

My reply: "I used to party with them."

Eventually, that warranted some explaining.

"You really liked to party, huh?" Biting my lip, I shrugged.

"I was different back then, and partying seemed like the perfect way to forget about reality and just enjoy life. I now know of the dangers that come with such a lifestyle and know not to venture back into that shark tank."

"What happened?" she asked, looking at me curiously.

I continued stitching and let the question hang there, mentally weighing up whether or not I could reveal that secret to Alice so early on in our friendship. It wasn't lack of trust, but once I told her I was sure she would run for the hills.

"A friend of mine….well he was actually more than a friend, he…he…he got hurt, badly, and so did I. After that, I wasn't interested in acting reckless and being an idiot."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Does he still go here?"

"No, he doesn't go anywhere now." My response was cryptic, but I could tell Alice wasn't going to ask any more on the subject. Either she knew I felt a little uncomfortable by the line of questioning, or she felt sorry for asking, I couldn't be sure which one it was.

From that we moved on to lighter topics and eventually had to pack up our things and go to class. We were both heading in the same direction so rather than split up, like usual, we stuck together, walking side by side up the hallways.

My, how the heads turned. It was as if they had never seen two girls walking together. News was going to get back to Rose, and she would definitely be able to it was a challenge when she heard. I was moving on, despite all her threats, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Or so I thought.

"Bella!" Jamie called, running up the hallway towards me. He put his arm around my shoulder, pretty much leaning against me, and smiled. "Friday night was awesome! It's great to have you back, darling."

Shooting him a very confused look, I shook my head. "Friday night? What are you talking about, Jamie?"

Pulling out his phone he flipped to a picture of me scantily dressed, sitting on his lap, with a bottle of champagne in one hand and a smoke in the other. _Holy fuck. _I could remember that night clearly, it took place over a year ago, when I was still loving the scene, and I distinctly remember ending up in Jamie's bed that night. Christ.

Alice took one look at the picture and then walked away quickly and quietly. She was clearly upset, as she had every right to be. I was going to fucking kill Jamie.

"What the hell was that?" I asked, slapping at his arm.

"Don't look at me, talk to the Queen Bee. A little birdy told me you fucked her off," Jamie said, pointing over at Rose. He put his phone away and then snuck back into the crowd of students.

Following where he pointed I saw Rose smiling wickedly against the lockers. Seeing as I was no longer conforming to the rules, Rose looked to be trying to teach me a lesson. Oh she was foolish if she thought I was going to take that lying down.

However, the damage was already done, sadly. Getting Alice to talk to me again was going to be hard, and surely she had lost all trust in me. Bronze would, too, once he found out. No matter how hard I tried to make new friends, rather than drag me back, they would chase them away. It wasn't about me being friends with them anymore, it was about me having no friends, being alone and facing the problems by myself.

That familiar lonely feeling washed over me and I felt just like I had eight months ago, thinking about all my regrets. Perhaps it was better if Bronze and Alice weren't friends with me. They'd certainly get an easier time of it if they weren't around me, that was for sure, and maybe they'd even survive the year at Hopkins.

That had to be worth going it alone, right?

Either way, I wanted Alice to know that I had been telling the truth, even if I had to chase her to do it. If I gave them the option to hang out with me, the ball was in their court and they could decide. They could either take the easy route, by staying away from me, or the hard route, by being friends with me. It was all going to be up to them.

First class was painful. I was in a foul mood and really didn't want to be there, so it was no surprise that I didn't pay attention. Only after I had escaped did I wish I was back in there. Next I had to see Dr. Carlisle and I wasn't looking forward to it. He always pressed and prodded, asking questions he shouldn't, and frankly, I was getting sick of it. I genuinely considered just spilling my guts to him to shut him up, but then realised that in doing so I would be opening a whole new can of worms.

Seeing the door closed, I took a seat in the crappy plastic chairs outside his office. He must have had a walk in during class change over. I didn't mind waiting, it gave me time to collect my thoughts. What I hadn't expected, though, was company.

Someone came and stood right in front of my chair, while I was mindlessly tracing the pattern of my skirt. Looking up cautiously I noticed the cassette player strapped to the school belt and I knew it to be Bronze. Continuing on up my eyes finally reached his and it was like he was looking straight through me.

"The trust of the innocent is the liar's most useful tool," Bronze said, sounding so different from my usual fun and carefree Bronze.

"I don't know that one," I replied, glancing at him again. He looked angry; it was such a strange emotion to see on his face.

"Stephen King. Once again, not a cartoon or movie quote, but it was very fitting." At that I shook my head. Alice must have told him, but I didn't lie.

"I was telling the truth when I said I was grounded. That is what you're here about, right? Alice?" He nodded once and crossed his arms over his chest. That was when I noticed the envelop he had in his hand.

Dread filled my body instantly. I knew that whatever was inside that envelope meant hell for me. Swallowing thickly, I glanced up to Bronze's face to see him practically glowering at me.

"W-w-what's in the envelope?" I asked nervously.

My body was going into meltdown mode. The shakes were racking my body, I was having trouble seeing, a weakness like no other had taken over my limbs, and I was certain I was going to collapse. Thank God I was sitting down.

As if seeing the drastic change, Bronze dropped to my level, placing one of his hands on my arm and the other on the chair next to me. "Bloody hell, breathe for me, Princess."

I moved my head down, placing it between my knees and took slow breaths, trying to put a stop to the crazy ideas running through my head. But I couldn't. That envelope, thick and full with something that could break me, was not an easy sight to move past.

Rose played dirty, and fuck, there was tons of photos of me in my not so brilliant moments. She could have used any photos from the hundred or so parties I went to last year, each one worse than the one before. She could have started off easy, handed him an envelope with the early days which consisted of heavy drinking and groping, or she could have brought out the big guns and given him photos of me snorting coke and having sex on Riley's coffee table.

Whatever she had given to Bronze, it meant hell for me. Once again, I was being confronted by a past I wanted to forget, or at least move on from. Some things would never be forgotten, that was for sure.

"Princess, are you okay?" Bronze asked, looking at me nervously.

I raised my head and nodded slowly, chewing at my bottom lip. "Can I see what's in the envelope?"

Bronze looked a little surprised. "What makes you think this envelope has anything to do with you?"

I scoffed at his question and shook my head. "People don't play nice, and to screw me over, they'll show you some of my worst moments."

"Well, that may be so but I don't think this has anything to do with you." I frowned and shot him a questioning look. "The pictures are of some car wreck, that's it. There are no people in here. I think someone is trying to send some stupid warning my way," Bronze explained.

"A car wreck?" I asked, my voice breaking.

"Yeah, but like I said, I don't think it has anything to do with you. Some kid shoved it in my hands while I was walking towards you. I…eh…I may have followed you from your last class." Bronze blushed a little but my mind wasn't on any of that.

"I need to see those photos, immediately." Bronze looked at me for a moment, which felt like ages, before sighing.

"I have class, and you have to see Dr. Carlisle, so we can do this later?" Bronze didn't seem to understand my urgency, but then again, he wasn't here last year to know the significance of that envelope.

"No, I need it now." I grabbed his hand and dragged him away.

As class had started, no one was in the hallway, which made it easier. Bronze didn't put up a fight with me, thankfully, but did voice his concerns. Rather than listen to them, I tuned them out and led him through the school, up the grand staircase and through several janitorial rooms before taking him out onto the roof.

"Princess, what the hell are we doing up here?" Bronze asked, staring at me like I was crazy.

"This is the only place we won't be disturbed." I could see the disappointment on Bronze's face. He wasn't happy with me, but right then it wasn't about him or me, it was about the contents of that envelope.

I reached out for it and he held it back, making me stretch for it. "Why is this so important to you?" he asked, sounding confused and a little hurt. "These pictures mean nothing, so what is the problem?"

"Please, just let me see them, and then I will explain," I said, dropping my arm and fighting back my emotions. Unlike the panic attack from earlier, I was likely to have an emotional breakdown and sob uncontrollably.

"Fine." Shoving the envelope at me, Bronze turned away, throwing his hands up. The boy looked frustrated and hurt, a bad combination all round, but I just had to know what he'd seen.

I opened the envelope greedily and pulled out the images. My worst fears were confirmed the instant I saw the car in the pictures. There, overturned, pulverised on one side, was Jasper's Saleen S7, the car Jake and I were driving the night of the party, our last party.

Some bloody stupid idea to go racing round Jasper's estate turned into a bloody massacre. The situation became hell once they realised neither Jake nor I were responding to them. Then the shit hit the fan.

"Are they worth it, Princess? Have you seen what you wanted? Is the world about to end?" Bronze asked, frowning at me.

I licked my lips slowly and swallowed, my throat suddenly very dry. Flicking through the rest of the pictures I saw a few more of the car we had been driving and then several pictures of the other cars that were driving that night. There was no mistaking it; these were pictures of that disastrous evening.

"Can I keep these?" I asked, my mind reeling.

Bronze exhaled in disbelief and began shaking his head. "They're that important?" I nodded and kept eye contact with him. "You stand us up on Friday night but today you're our best friend because we have something you want, how does that work? I thought you were better than that."

"It's not like that, I promise! I was ready to go on Friday! I was dressed and excited and then found out that the Queen Bitch at this school, formerly my best friend, called my father and convinced him to ground me! Tell me how that works, huh?" I fought back tears of anger and clenched my fists, turning my head away from Bronze. "I actually thought I had made friends and that _they _would let me go. How stupid was that?"

Bronze closed the distance between us and turned my head to face him. He looked at me with pity, but why, I did not know. Dropping my head to rest on his shoulder was the first sign of my defences breaking. Next, I dropped the envelope and clutched onto his blazer like it was the only thing holding me up. Bronze reached out and held my arms, gently running his hands over them.

"What do they have on you?" he whispered, almost nuzzling the top of my head.

"You don't want me to answer that, because when I do, you will never look at me the same," I replied, hating myself for my past mistakes.

"Princess, if you think some seedy past is going to make me walk away from you then you have another thing coming. To quote High School Musical: we're all in this together." I couldn't help myself, I burst out laughing. Looking up at him, I bit my lip, fighting back the grin threatening to take over.

"I'm about to have a breakdown and you're quoting High School Musical to me?" He blushed a little but nodded.

"The message is there, alright Princess? I'm thinking on my feet, that was all I could come up with," he replied, smiling at me.

"Well, I'm sorry to say that we can't be in this together. When this comes out you will not want to be dragged down with me."

"Tell me what it is," he said, pushing my hair away from my face. "I'm not going to go anywhere, Princess. You need to learn to trust me."

"It's not about trust. This is bigger than you and me, and goes high up the food chain. If those at the top even feel a little threatened then I'm done for. Giving you these pictures wasn't a warning for you. It was a warning for me, one I'm going to have to acknowledge. "

"And how are you going to do that?" Bronze asked, no doubt watching me fall apart before him. Coming clean was something I had hoped I'd never have to do.

"I need to talk to those also involved." I walked away from Bronze and headed towards the door, the wind picking up and whipping my hair across my face. Pausing at the door, I turned back to look at him.

Bronze stood with his hands dropped at his sides, looking hurt and confused. I wanted to rush to him, comfort him and explain it all, but right then wasn't the time. The sooner I dealt with the matter at hand the sooner I could escape from Rose and Jasper's clutches.

"What can I do?" he asked, sounding so pained. "I get the impression that once you walk through that door I'm not going to see you for a while, if ever again. So tell me, what can I do to help you?"

I shook my head and sighed. He was trying to be my knight in shining armour. Sadly, for me, he was three years too late. "If you see Dr. Carlisle can you tell him that I'm sorry I missed his appointment and that my second chance has just ended. He'll know what you mean," I replied, giving him one last look.

Walking away from him was hard, impossibly hard, but it had to be done. Bronze was too good to be caught up in the shit storm that was going to follow. And there would be a shit storm. Once I came clean, nothing would ever be the same again.

Bye bye second chance. Hello hell.

* * *

This hasn't been beta read, so please forgive me for any mistakes. Cheers!


	8. Chapter 8: Time To Talk

**My Sweet Thing**

**Chapter Eight: Time to Talk**

Sitting patiently in the Police Station, I smoothed down my school uniform and kept my head held high. I did not want to be sitting there looking guilty. Although I was not confessing to any crimes at that time, with a little bit of pressure I was likely to crack and spill all. No, my mission was to talk to the Chief of Police, not have myself charged.

Despite having told the officer at the desk of my intentions, he had kept me waiting for roughly forty minutes. I understood that the Chief of Police was a busy man but I knew whatever 'meeting' he was in was not important. If there was something big going on in the town, everyone would know about it.

Instead, I was certain I was being blown off. Not by our charming Chief of Police, but rather by the officer I had spoken to. Every few minutes he would glance over and give me a small smile, practically baiting me. I wanted to rip his head off; he was making the whole situation one hundred times more stressful than it needed to be. However, I was raised to be the perfect lady so would not break my cover.

Rising from the chair, I walked over and gave the officer a warm smile. He grinned back, looking much like an eager puppy ready to please.

"Can you tell me, will it be much longer?" I asked, licking my lips.

That movement was not lost on the officer whose eyes immediately dropped to my lips. "Shouldn't be much longer, Miss."

Well, I knew that was bullshit.

"Who are you here to see, Miss Swan?" a gruff voice asked from the far right. Turning, I saw Chief Jenkins standing in his usual imposing way, towering over the rest of the room.

"I'm actually here to see you, sir," I replied, walking over to him. He narrowed his eyes upon hearing my answer and glanced from the officer behind the desk then back to me.

"How long have you been waiting?" As I answered his questions, out the corner of my eye, I could see the officer behind the desk sink further and further down his chair. "Please go wait in my office, Bella. I will be with you momentarily."

Following his command, I walked towards his office, but not without hearing him reprimand the buffoon who had kept me waiting. I was very much confused as to why he had kept me waiting, but then it became clear.

"Ah, Mr. Whitlock, what can I do for you?" Chief Jenkins asked. I spun around faster than I thought possible and saw Jasper looking past the Chief and at me.

"I was hoping to speak to Bella, sir. I heard she was here." The Chief looked from him and then back to me before shaking his head.

"I actually have to speak to Miss Swan right now, so why don't you take a seat and wait for us to finish up. There's a good lad." Without giving Jasper a chance to reply he strode towards me, shutting us in his office.

I took a seat in the chair in front of the Chief's desk and began chewing on my lip nervously. If Jasper was here then he was going to try and stop whatever mad act he thought I was about to do. He probably thought I was going to confess or something. Stupid boy.

"I am going to guess that it is not a coincidence that you and Mr. Whitlock are here at the same time. Am I correct?" Looking over the desk at me, Chief Jenkins eyes bore into mine. I nodded and ran a hand through my hair, pushing it away while trying to calm myself.

"There are pictures of the car from that night," I said, watching as Chief Jenkins sat up in his chair immediately. "They show it completely wrecked, after the crash."

"Who has them?"

"A boy at our school. He doesn't know what he has, and I know him, he won't go snooping." My words did not seem to calm Chief Jenkins though.

"How did he get them?"

"They were handed to him in an envelope by some random student. I think it's clear to you who gave those photos out."

"Indeed." Chief Jenkins slammed his fist down on the desk. "What the hell are you kids playing at?" he asked no one in particular. "This needs to end. Why are they handing them out?"

"I'm not conforming to the rules anymore, sir. I've stopped being friends with Jasper and Rose. They don't have my best interests at heart anymore and I need new friends. Rose really doesn't like this, and I suspect Jasper is the same. This was a warning, of what they have on me."

"What they had on you," he said, shaking his head. "I'll deal with this. We cannot have an investigation, you know that. Get the pictures from the boy at school and tell him to forget about it. I will deal with Miss Hale and Mr. Whitlock."

"And the file, sir?" I knew I shouldn't have asked, but I needed to know. If anyone, _anyone_, was to have a look in that file they would see very big discrepancies between statements, medical reports and the pictorial evidence that was taken that night.

"I can't tell you about that, but by tomorrow you will have nothing to worry about." I nodded and took a deep breath. My nerves were shot to hell. "Do not worry, this will not come out. We gave you a second chance for a reason. You are under our protection and we will stop at nothing to make sure this stays buried." Chief Jenkins winced at the end of his sentence, along with me, and then sighed. "You're not the first student I have helped, and you won't be the last. We have ways of working this out. So go home, rest and stop worrying, okay?"

"Yes, sir." I stood up and headed for the door. He followed behind me, opening it to let me out.

"Hopefully, I won't be seeing you again for some time. Enjoy your week." Turning from me, Chief Jenkins glared at Jasper and barked for him to get his ass in his office. Jasper looked completely shocked, but knew not to disobey such an order.

Leaving the Police Station I took a seat on one of the benches outside and called my driver. I had walked from school as it wasn't that far, but in order to get home I needed him to pick me up. He informed me he was on his way and would be there as soon as possible. I just hoped that he made it before Jasper came out.

With each passing minute I started to get a little more freaked out. The Chief would only say so much to Jasper, and before I know it he would be out and going off at me. I had no clue what the Chief was going to say to him, but I assumed it was about his carelessness. I wasn't the only one who would go down, and while my crime was the worst, the Chief and Dr. Carlisle were also in the firing line.

I glanced at my phone, checking the time, and knew my driver wasn't going to be able to save me from the upcoming conversation. It had been eight minutes, and from where he was coming from, he would be at least another ten.

Hearing the door to the Police Station open, I turned and saw a livid Jasper. He looked around before spotting me, and marched over. I stood up, hoping to allow distance between us, but he wasn't having any of that.

"What did you do?" Jasper asked, grabbing onto my arm roughly. I tried to snatch it back but his grip was too tight. He was pissed, that was obvious, but fuck him if he thought he was going to take it out on me.

"I didn't do anything. What did you do? Why the fuck are you handing out pictures? Do you think I haven't suffered enough already? "

"I'm not handing them out! Why would I hand out pictures? Really, Bella, I could have been arrested for so much that night. Why would I want to bring it back up? For starters, my father would fucking kill me, and then there is the legal aspect of it all. Why would I bring it up again?" he yelled, completely ignoring the fact that we were in public.

"Well if you didn't, who did?" I asked.

"Who do you think?" he spat, shaking his head.

"Rosalie," I said, biting my lip and fighting back angry tears. "I'm going to fucking kill her."

"Me too." I looked over at him curiously, seeing the rage begin to subside. "Oh don't look at me like that, I'm as angry as you are about this. As much as I love Rose, and I do love Rose, this is too much. She's losing her mind, too much fucking coke." I snorted and shook my head.

"It's not the coke, she's on a fucking power trip." Jasper smirked and nodded.

"What are we going to do?" he asked, letting go of my arm.

"We? There's a we now?" Jasper looked down and shrugged.

"I know, I've been a dick, but fuck, if you want to go slum it then be my guest. I don't care anymore." I rolled my eyes and pushed him lightly.

"They're nice people, unlike you and Rose. You're both snakes."

"Yeah, we are, and you are, too, Bella. Don't go forgetting that," he said, raising his eyebrows at me. "We all did the same old shit. The only difference now is you've seen the light and Rose and I are still running around in the dark."

"You like the dark too much to give it up," I pointed out. He shrugged and sighed.

"Yeah, I do. What's not to like? I get a fuck hot girl bouncing on my balls every weekend. I get a fucking awesome high from the coke. I get to go bat-shit crazy and not worry about the consequences. Why would I want to give that up?"

"Those consequences will catch up eventually." He nodded and looked over at the Police Station doors.

"I know, but for now, fuck it. We only live once." Jasper was too predictable. It was as if he had completely forgotten about Jake.

"So does this mean that you are going to lay off me now?" I asked, moving on.

"Oh hell yeah, I'm out. She wants to fuck with you then she needs to fuck with me too." I gave him a thankful smile, which he then killed. "Plus, if I separate myself from her then maybe that little brunette you hang around with will take more notice."

"Fuck off, Jasper!" I cried out in frustration. "Leave her alone, seriously. She's not going to bow down and suck your cock. Go find some freshman or someone who is willing. Leave Alice alone."

Jasper smirked and licked his lips. He was such a pervert at times. "Come on, darlin'. You know from experience that she will most certainly enjoy herself, and hell, it might even add a little credit to her name."

"Yeah, she'll enjoy it until you kick her out of bed and send her on her way, never to speak to her again." Jasper pouted and shook his head.

"You wound me, darlin'. I never did that to you, if I recall correctly. In fact, I'm pretty sure I let you stay over and even had brunch with you."

"I was different, you know that. She is just some random fuck for you. Rose and I were different." He nodded and shrugged.

"So does this mean I shouldn't count on a shining recommendation from you?" I gave him a pointed look and he chuckled. "I take that as a no. But really Bella, I don't see the problem."

"Well I do, Jasper. You're not the type of guy Alice needs, nor will you ever be. And just to point out, she's jailbait. Leave her alone." Shrugging off Jasper's wandering hand, I watched as my driver pulled up. Not sparing Jasper another look, I headed straight for the car.

"When's her birthday? Will she be legal then?" Ignoring him completely, I told the driver to head home and sunk back into the leather seats.

The main problem had been solved, but there was still the issue of telling Bronze and Alice of my dirty past. They would need to know. If we were to be friends then I would have to tell them and just hope that they could accept me for the new and improved Bella, rather than the devilish Bella I was before.

It was a scary thought. However, remembering what Bronze said up on that rooftop really made me feel better about it. He wasn't going to go anywhere. God, I hoped he was telling the truth. To lose him, and Alice, would hurt like hell. Losing them would make this all seem worthless. If I was never to be accepted, then what was the point of trying?

My usual quiet ride to school was interrupted on Tuesday morning. The driver normally had the radio off but apparently there was big news in our little town. That big news: a fire had ripped through the Police Station, destroying files, and evidence.

Holy shit, the Police Chief came through for me.

Slouching down in the seat, I was at a loss for words. Now, there was no way to prove what actually happened that night. Yes, there were several people who knew, but due to that fire, all proof went up in flames, literally.

I was finally free. The only thing left holding me down was the guilt.

My life was finally back in my own hands. Jasper and Rose had nothing on me. Okay, that wasn't true, but they had nothing serious on me. They could show everyone what a dirty whore I used to be, though that was common knowledge to most, or they could show everyone how drink was my poison of choice, which was rather obvious. But they couldn't control me.

There was nothing I could do about the guilt, that wasn't going to go away. All the right people had told me it wasn't my fault. Even when I had tried to come clean, right at the beginning, those that were directly affected didn't blame me and brushed my confessions off.

I didn't expect the guilt to go away any time soon. Actually, I assumed it would be with me the rest of my life, but that didn't mean I couldn't move forward. My life was mine again, and I was finally going to make something of it.

First thing I did when I arrived at school was walk past Rosalie grinning like the Cheshire Cat. She frowned at me and turned back to her locker, attempting to play it cool. She had no clue why I was so pleased. Hopefully, Jasper would fill her in later, cause I certainly wasn't going to talk to her again.

Dr. Carlisle, who had seen my smile of victory, waved me over immediately. Oh, he knew why I was so pleased, that was for sure. The look on his face, however, was not a happy one. Nervously, I bit my lip and approached.

"We have some talking to do. My office, now." I didn't argue.

Once we were both settled, I finally noticed the thick, intense, and unexpected, ominous atmosphere in the room. What the hell was going on?

"Bella," Carlisle warned, shaking his head. "You know better than to gloat. And frankly, you have nothing to gloat about." He spoke with a firm and strong voice, reprimanding me thoroughly. "That _show _out there was disgusting," he spat, his eyes glaring at me.

Despite our differences, I had a great deal of respect for Dr. Carlisle. He was given a lot of shit, but he took it in his stride and didn't care. He was a kind and caring man, and someone you could confide in safely. His opinion meant a lot to me, and right then, I was ashamed of myself.

He had stolen the wind right out of my sails, and rightly so.

"Bella," this time he spoke my name in a much softer voice. "Look at me, please." I couldn't deny him, there was no fight left in me.

Taking in his appearance, I was a little surprised. Dr. Carlisle was usually a very composed man, and when I had walked in with him, he was perfectly together. But, between that point and then he had become ruffled. His hair was in disarray, his tie was crooked and had been loosened, and he looked at me like he was at the end of his tether.

"I don't know what to do with you anymore," he confessed, rubbing his eyes. "You feel the guilt to your very core, and I know that won't change. It shouldn't though, you should feel that guilt your entire life. You should experience pain, and suffer for what you did. Yet, I want you to be happy. I want to see you succeed, and go on to be the person I know you can be." Dr. Carlisle shrugged and laughed humourlessly, his smile fading into a sneer. Thankfully, it wasn't directed at me.

"I lost my medical license because I was under the influence of alcohol during working hours and killed a patient on my operating table. I didn't get a second chance, and that guilt has not let up. No one covered my mess up, and I suffered, and I deserved to. Do you ever feel that way?" Dr. Carlisle loosened his tie enough to lift it over his head, before throwing it into his top drawer.

Who was this man before me? Where was the cool and composed Dr. Carlisle I was used to? What the hell was happening?

"Eh…maybe I should go, Dr. Carlisle…" I began to stand only to be waved back down.

"No, please, sit. You missed your appointment yesterday; we need to make up for it. And call me Carlisle, please. I don't deserve the title of doctor." Yes, there was definitely something majorly wrong. "Bella, answer the question. Do you ever feel like you should be punished?"

I sat back down, sliding off my blazer in the process and nodded. "Of course, all the time. But, even without 'proper' punishment, I still feel like I am being punished."

"Our sessions together better not be seen as punishment; I happen to enjoy them, very much." He smiled a little, easing the mood somewhat.

"No, our sessions together are not punishment. They can be difficult, but they are helpful." That perked him up a bit more, figuratively and literally. Carlisle actually sat straighter upon hearing it.

There was something off about him, really off, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. Nothing screamed 'here's the problem!' but it was clear there was one.

Taking another look at me, Carlisle's eyes darkened and he frowned. I knew that whatever was about to come out his mouth next was going hurt.

"Tell me, Bella, were the parties worth it? Was the sex that good? Were the drugs that amazing? Were you craving attention that much you had to go and destroy people's lives? You stupid girl. I hope you enjoy your second chance, because you won't get another. And knowing you, which I believe I do, you will screw it up again. Beware all those who are friends with Bella Swan, she's likely to kill you in fucking car crash!" he yelled.

His look was so full of disgust and hate that I could not stop the silent tears from falling. I thought he, of all people, would never turn his back on me like this. But, maybe he was right. Maybe Bronze and Alice needed to stay away from me. Maybe everyone needed to stay away from me. After all, I had effectively killed Jake, and anyone else could be next.

Sitting there shocked, I didn't know what to do, or how to respond to such a statement. He noticed this and shook his head, scoffing as he did so.

"Tears, really? You're going to cry at a time like this? You should be over that. No amount of crying is going to fix the mistake you made, bring back the life you ended. Instead you should be out there, doing everything in your power to help others."

Wiping my eyes, I sunk back into the chair and saw the similarities between us. We had both screwed up, taking someone away from their loved ones, and we both lived with the consequences day in and day out.

"Is that why you took a job here, Carlisle? Was this your way of trying to help others, to make up for your 'mistake'?" I asked.

This was no longer a student speaking with the school councillor. This was so much more than that. Right then, we were not confined within those titles, we were just two people arguing; and it was about to get dirty.

Carlisle did not like my comment. He did not like it one bit.

He flew out his chair and round the desk, dragging me up onto my feet and holding onto my arm with a firm grip.

"You have no idea what you're talking about, you foolish girl," he snarled; and that's when I could smell it, the drink on his breath.

Looking up at him, I watched as he went from staring at my eyes to glancing down at my lips. Oh hell no! No fucking way was he thinking about that, absolutely not.

"Dr. Carlisle, I think it would be best if you called a taxi and went home. I can smell the drink coming off you, and I know for a fact that the school will fire your ass if they found out. You need to leave. We can discuss what just happened next time, once you've sobered up." He dropped my arm like I'd burnt him and abruptly stepped back, putting space between us.

Rather than wait for his response, I grabbed my things and hightailed it out of there.

Jesus fucking Christ, that was messed up, and so were my emotions. What was I to do now? Dr. Carlisle had brought all my fears to the surface, and now I was scared I would not be good enough for anyone. My insecurities were in control.

The two people I wanted acceptance from had no clue of my messed up past. Oh, they had probably heard the party gossip, but they didn't know about Jake. And now, I had to tell them. They needed the full truth. That way, they knew what kind of friend they were making; a fucked up one.

Taking a leap of faith, I headed towards the office. Informing the woman that Dr. Carlisle was sick and would be heading home was easy, I then had to convince her to give me Bronze and Alice's schedules. She wasn't so keen, but gradually gave in.

With that information in hand, I hunted out Bronze's classroom and knocked on the door before entering. The whole class stopped to look and I saw Bronze sit up in his seat, giving me a very confused look.

"Yes?" Mr. Hargrove asked.

"Dr. Carlisle sent me to fetch Edward Cullen. He needs to speak with him," I lied. Saying Bronze's real name was just weird and felt so wrong.

Mr. Hargrove didn't doubt my intentions and allowed Bronze to leave. Once we were in the hallway, away from prying ears and eyes, Bronze lightly touched my arm and stopped me.

"I didn't think I would see you again," he admitted, reaching for my hand. "I'm glad I was wrong." I shut my eyes and bit my lip. He made me swoon without even trying. Goddammit, if I lost him, it would crush me.

"We need to talk about something, something important," I said, dropping his hand. He frowned a little but nodded.

"Dr. Carlisle doesn't actually want to speak to me, does he?"

"No, I lied. It's what I'm good at," I mumbled, shrugging.

Bronze stepped forward and had me pressed against the wall. One of his hands came up and cupped my cheek, while the other landed on my waist. His look was so intense, so powerful, that I felt like he was consuming me, reading my every thought and feeling all my emotions.

"Don't be hard on yourself, Princess, please." He leant forward, his forehead pressing against mine. I desperately wanted to lean forward and kiss him, but I knew that would be a big mistake.

Once Bronze learnt the truth, he surely wasn't going to stick around. Why would he want to take the risk? So kissing him, finally feeling his lips against my own, his body pressed up against mine, would be absolute torture.

"You don't know what I've done," I whispered, holding back the tears.

"I told you, I don't care. I'm not going to go anywhere; you're stuck with me."

"Maybe you should hear what I've done before you make comments like that." He leant forward, his fingers caressing my cheek and his lips coming towards mine, but I dodged it. His kiss would kill my resolve. Instead, his lips touched my cheek.

"Tell me. Tell me what it is so we can move past it." I stepped out from beneath him, moving away from the wall, and reached for his hand. Taking it in mine, I led him through the hallways and up to the roof.

Alice could wait until later, Bronze needed to know first. If things worked out, Alice would be my best friend, but Bronze…Bronze would be so much more than that, and we both knew it.

God, I needed this to work out. If it didn't, then all my plans for a new and improved Bella were pointless. Breaking away from Rose and Jasper would have been pointless, and I may as well run back to them with my tail between my legs. After all, if Bronze and Alice didn't accept me, I at least knew there were two other people as fucked up as me waiting in the wings.

Wish me luck.

* * *

A.N.

Again, this hasn't been beta read. Forgive me for any mistakes. See you next time!


	9. Chapter 9: Confession Time

**My Sweet Thing**

**Chapter Nine: Confession Time**

Confessing my crimes was something I knew had to be done, but that didn't make it any easier. Bronze was watching me carefully, moving with me as I paced. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he was trying to protect me from jumping off the roof. Alas, that was not my intention up there. I needed to tell him, to get it out in the open, and to see his reaction.

My life would go on if he rejected me, but there would be a deep wound for a while. How could there not be? His opinion mattered, and his friendship and whatever else we may end up becoming definitely mattered. Losing that, losing him, would hurt, for sure.

"Princess, please, just tell me," he pleaded, reaching for my hand to stop my pacing.

I turned to look at him, his eyes practically begging me, and nodded. There was no more time to waste, and there was definitely no escape. This was it.

"I…Jake-" I froze, chocking on my own words.

_Buck up, you can do this! _

"I used to party, a lot, as I'm sure you're aware of." Bronze nodded slowly and took a step closer to me. I took one back, raising my hand to stop him. I did not want his comfort, not yet. "Well, at one of these parties, something happened, something big. I don't just mean gossip big, I mean, I could end up in jail big, or at least that was the case yesterday."

Frowning at me, Bronze looked confused. He was being kind enough not to interrupt me, which I was very thankful for, but I was doing a piss poor job of explaining this to him so he was bound to have questions.

"Okay, what I'm going to tell you is bigger than Jasper, Rose and me. It involves the Chief of Police, a coroner, a retired police officer, our school councillor, and a well-respected lawyer. They all risked their jobs to save me, to give me another chance, so this has to stay between us. I do intend to tell Alice, but other than that, no one else knows what really happened that night. Do you understand?"

Bronze nodded once again and gave me a comforting look. Fidgeting with my hands, I knew the hard part was coming up. Did I tell him the whole story? Did I just gloss over the details? Did he want to know about my relationship with Jake? Did he need to know about it? What was I to say?

As if seeing my lack of words, Bronze moved forward and pulled me to him. His embrace was calming and relaxed me a little. Surely he wouldn't run from me, right?

"Princess, I've told you before, I'm not going anywhere. You do not need to tell me this. From the sounds of it, it would be better if you didn't; and from the looks of how nervous you are, I know this can't be easy. Forget about it, and let's just move on." God, he was perfect, but he needed to know.

"Just listen, please? I will answer any questions you have at the end," I said, looking up at him as his arms tightened around me. He nodded once and gave me a look, which was clearly telling me that he was not letting go, and I didn't have the energy to fight him this time.

"Jasper used to have these huge parties whenever his father went out of town, which was every weekend. Everyone would go, and everyone would get high, drunk, fuck around, and wake up the next day feeling like their head was going to explode. They were epic, and if you didn't go you were definitely at the bottom of the social food-chain.

"That particular party was a little more intense than the others. Jamie, the school's resident drug dealer, had some new stuff in; the good stuff. Best coke I've ever had, hands down. It was unbelievable. We were snorting the stuff like it was running out, when in fact Jamie had tonnes of it. If you add on the amount of alcohol we were all drinking, it should have been blatantly obvious something was going to go wrong. But we were too fucked up to realise.

"Yours truly was snorting lines off of Rose's stomach when someone proposed a race around Jasper's estate. He has this killer collection of elite sports cars, and he was too fucked up to care about us all driving them. So, Jake and I teamed up, picked a car and went to kick some asses."

I paused and took a deep breath. It was all replaying in my head like a bad movie. I could still smell the seductive scent of Rose's body beneath me while snorting the coke, and I could still feel Jamie's body pressing against mine as he watched us with rapture. Rose got off on it and loved to drive the guys crazy with our teases and touches.

Jake was there, too. He always liked to watch from afar, because he knew at some point I'd come looking for him. Jamie, Riley, Marcus and the others liked to hang off Rose and myself when we were like that. They all hoped we'd invite them to join us, but really that privilege was all Jasper's. Jake though, he knew that he didn't have to be seen to be noticed. His absence made him appealing; he was great for a chase, and a superb lay. He also was a reliable friend when the cocktail of drugs and drink wore off.

Pushing back his gorgeous face from my mind, I looked up at Bronze. The two of them would probably have been good friends, as Jake never cared for the silly matter of social class. He didn't care where you were in the social standings, and spoke to everyone. Then I came along and ruined that.

"Jake wasn't actually in the room when the guy announced his idea, but when people starting pairing up, and Rose said she was too horny and wanted to fuck, I thought he'd be the perfect choice. Needless to say, he was completely up for it, and we went to join the others. At first, it was a race round the house, but then we upped the stakes.

"The estate is huge, and it has it's very own forest and lake. So, when someone wanted to have a race round the perimeter, it was going to be risky. Even in broad daylight, that would be dangerous. You just can't see enough of what's in front of you to drive safely. In the dark, it's a death trap."

One second I was in Bronze's arms on the roof and then I was in that car with Jake. He was laughing and slapping the dashboard, telling me to drive faster. We were last, and he was taking the piss and blaming my woman driving skills. We couldn't see anything in front of us but the occasional tree or ditch being picked up by the headlights. I barely had control of the car, and it was sheer dumb luck that we hadn't hit anything yet. But that was about to change. Our luck ran out.

"I was driving, and what with amount of obstacles in front of us, I was finding it hard to swerve round them. We had clipped a few rocks, bumped into a few trees, but we hadn't crashed. In the dark, we had no clue where the house was, where the other cars where, or where about we were on the estate. I saw the lake too late, coming up ahead, and turned the car abruptly."

Bronze's embraced tightened a little, and he pulled me closer. I dropped my head against his chest, breathing in his comforting scent, and tried to steady my legs. They felt weak all of a sudden, and I reached out to hold myself up against him.

"The car was going too fast, and with that kind of turn, it was a given what happened next," I said, biting my lip.

"It rolled, didn't it?" he asked, sounding so sad.

"Yeah, it rolled. I don't know how many times, but it was so fast and then it was over with a smash. We had crashed into a tree mid roll, completely wrecking one side of the car. I'm pretty certain you don't need me to tell you which side."

"No, you don't."

Bronze dropped his head and gently kissed my forehead. Just feeling his lips against my skin sent a new wave of emotions over me. "How badly were you hurt?" he whispered, caressing the side of my face with his hand.

I exhaled sharply and shook my head. "I had a concussion, but otherwise it was just cuts and bruises from the glass. I was fine. He…well, he wasn't."

Without thinking about it, I wrapped my arms around his waist and tried to bury my head in his chest. Inhaling his scent, I attempted to block out the memories trying to remind me of the smell of blood and gas leaking from the car.

"How did he…how did he die?" Pulling my head back out, I bit my lip and closed my eyes, seeing it play out behind my eyes before it all went back.

"I was unconscious, as was he. No one knew we had crashed, and no one thought anything of it. We were only found by accident. Jasper and Rose were going to have sex by the lake, because when you're so fucked up its apparently romantic. What they didn't count on was finding us. But, by this time it was too late, Jake had already bled out.

"Rose and Jasper checked to see if he was alive or not before pulling me from the car. Stupidly, they had actually driven there. They put me in the car and took me back to the house. Jasper called his family lawyer to deal with it and when I woke up there was a lie set in place."

Shaking my head, I fought back the sob threatening to take over. That night…that night hurt so much, and not due to the physical injuries. I awoke to find I had killed one of my best friends, and was immediately told I wouldn't have to worry about getting in trouble, everyone had it covered. That was the exact opposite of what I wanted. I wanted to get in trouble. I wanted to be locked up. I wanted to suffer. Instead, I was protected from the ugly consequences I should have faced.

"How did they explain the cuts and bruises?" Bronze whispered, caressing my cheek once again.

"I had to go to hospital, and due to the amount of drink and drugs in my system, it wasn't hard for them to find a believable lie. They told the doctors and my father that I jumped through a second story window. He bought it, and was convinced I was out of control. Jasper and Rose told him that I had been hanging out with a bad crowd and how they were influencing me. If only he knew."

Pulling away from Bronze, I stepped back and walked over to the far side. I needed to think. I needed to bandage up my wounds. I needed to just breathe. But what was the point, really? I was just going to have to do this all over again with Alice. Would it even be worth it?

For all I knew, Bronze was going to come over and say he just doesn't want to be friends, or whatever we are, with a girl who's killed someone. It would be completely understandable, and something I deserved.

This was the punishment Dr. Carlisle mentioned. This feeling of needing to suffer and be in pain was the exact punishment that will never let up. He clearly still feels it today, even after dealing with the consequences of his actions, so it won't be any different for me.

I didn't hear Bronze walk over to me, but I did feel his arms wrap round my waist and his head drop down to my shoulder. His warm breath tickled my neck, and his hair brushed the side of my face as he practically nuzzled into me.

"I'm not going anywhere, Princess. If you'll have me, I'm yours." I inhaled sharply and turned to him, shaking my head.

"Please don't toy with me," I begged, gripping onto his blazer.

"I'm not, I'm being serious. I don't care about your past, Princess. When was the last time you had a drink? And when was the last time you got high?"

"I had a drink at Rose's birthday party before the term started, but I didn't get drunk. And the last time I was high was the night of the crash."

"Exactly. You've changed. You're different. You're taken responsibility, as best you can. Stop punishing yourself. It was an accident, a really bad and messed up accident. Move on, Princess, or this will destroy you. Please don't let it do that. It would hurt too much to see you waste your life away."

"But I killed someone, I killed my best friend," I said, my voice cracking and the tears coming on.

"You didn't mean to, and in that situation, the both of you could have died. I'm not saying you're completely innocent, cause you're not; you were high and drunk and should never have gotten behind the wheel of a car, but you've definitely learnt that lesson. I did always wonder why you had a driver, or why you were driven everywhere by Jasper and Rose, and now it makes perfect sense. Was that the last time you drove?"

"That night," I replied, wrapping my arms around myself. It felt cold all of a sudden. "I don't trust myself."

"Exactly." I lifted my head and shrugged at him, having no clue what he was talking about. "Princess, you're punishing yourself. This guilt, this is your punishment and you're taking it like a trooper. How many other people would have tried to ignore what they did, gotten behind the wheel again and just pretend it didn't happen? Denial is a wonderful thing, but you're facing this head on. You amaze me, Princess," Bronze admitted, coaxing me to come closer to him.

"How?" I whispered.

"Because you stopped the drugs, the wild parties, and yeah, you drink but you don't get drunk. You could have done the exact opposite, much like Jasper and Rose. They don't seem to care."

"I don't think they have the ability to feel emotions. They're rather heartless."

"I'm just glad you're not."

"So you don't hate me?" I asked, biting my lip painfully hard.

Bronze sighed and shook his head, a small smile on his lips. "No, Princess, I don't hate you. I could never hate you."

"Where…where do we go from here?" I needed to know where we stood with one another. I couldn't go on wondering if he wanted to be friends with me or not.

"This hasn't changed us. I'm still the dorky guy who quotes movie lines to you, and you're still the princess hanging out with the pauper. As long as you don't have an issue with that, then we're good."

His eyes were trained on mine, and I couldn't look away, even when more tears started to form. I expected anger, disgust, an outcry of hatred, not acceptance. Bronze looked passed my biggest failure and my past faults, and he was still with me. God, he had my heart in his hands at that moment, and I don't think he even realised.

"Thank you," I whispered, leaning in closer.

"You're welcome," he replied, giving me a small grin.

And that was it. Done. I had confessed, and he didn't run.

"What do I do about Alice?" I asked as we walked back towards my locker.

Bronze frowned and bit his lip. "I don't think you should tell her." Those words made me falter my step and my defences crumble. She wouldn't be as accepting as her brother, which was understandable, but still, it hurt.

"Oh?"

"I'll tell her, if that's alright with you?" He looked at me in question, raising his eyebrows.

"You want to tell her?" Why would he?

"Yeah. Princess, what you did was bloody hard, that was obvious. It would be cruel to make you do that again."

"Maybe I deserve that cruelty," I muttered, turning down the corridor.

"Please, don't be like that," he pleaded, shaking his head and giving my hand a squeeze. "Alice will ask questions, and that's the last thing you need. She's too inquisitive for her own good, and she just wouldn't be able to help herself. If I tell her, then you're saved those questions. It's a win-win."

"Except for you, who has to tell her. Honestly, you don't need to. I can do it. You don't have to go to the trouble of airing my dirty laundry."

"I don't see it that way. I see it as helping a friend who needs a break. You're that friend."

"A friend, is that all I am?" I asked, the two of us slowing to stop at my locker.

I didn't want to just be a friend, but right now wasn't the time to start a relationship, no matter how awesome Bronze was. I needed to get past some things, and he needed to settle in more. If we were to go out, well, that would catapult him from being a nobody to a somebody. Alice and him would get worse treatment than they already were, and I couldn't stand for that to happen. I needed the dust to settle.

"You're much more than a friend, Princess," Bronze said, tucking a strand of loose hair behind my ear. "You're so much more than a friend, and you know that. I don't know what we are exactly, but friends is not an adequate word for us."

I couldn't help but smile at that. He was acknowledging it, so at least I wasn't imagining the chemistry between us. That meant we could go somewhere, we could move forward from whatever we were now to something more, something much more.

"I do intend for us to make that next step, but right now just doesn't feel right, Princess." Bronze shrugged and looked over his shoulder as students started to emerge from classrooms. "I can tell you now, without a doubt, that I want to be with you. Let's just take some time." I nodded in response and bit my lip.

I wanted to move forward, hug him tightly and not let go. But yeah…that didn't seem to be the reaction he would have wanted, especially given how far his body was from mine. He was definitely keeping his distance.

I sighed and unlocked my locker, slowing nodding again in agreement. It made sense, to wait, and I did agree wholeheartedly, it's just, I wanted his comfort. I wanted it badly.

"Come over tonight," he declared out of the blue.

"What?" I asked, closing the locker immediately. Surely I hadn't heard him right. Bronze halted his actions, too, and looked up.

"Come over," he repeated, as though it was nothing.

"Tonight?" My voice cracked a little. After what I had just told him, he wanted me to come over; was he serious? And as if it wasn't stressful enough, given that Alice would know by then, too; I'd have to meet his mother. I was not ready for that. How could he be so calm about this?

"Yes. Unless, of course, you have something else on." He smirked at me, knowing perfectly well I had nothing on.

"But…I can't just come over," I said, shaking my head.

"Yeah you can. I don't need to ask permission. I'm a big boy, Princess." Ignoring all the dirty thoughts that came to mind, I continued to shake my head.

"What if your mother doesn't like me?" Bronze chuckled and reached for my hands.

"Princess, she's going to love you. You have nothing to worry about."

I chewed on my lip, then gave his hands a squeeze and said, "I can't come over tonight, I'm sorry. I need to just recuperate. Plus, Alice will know, and I don't want her to be uncomfortable around me in her own home. I think it would just be best if we did it another night. Is that okay?"

As much as I wanted to go that night, I knew I needed to stop and take a break. Today had been stressful enough without adding any more to it. For starters, Dr. Carlisle had made me feel pathetic and then almost made a pass at me, I was finally in the clear of my crimes, Bronze knew what I had done, soon Alice would know, and it wasn't even lunch yet. Going to his would just be too much.

I watched Bronze's face carefully to see his response. He licked his lips, looking down at our hands and nodded. He looked hurt. I really didn't want to hurt him, but I just needed a moment to breathe.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, feeling bad.

"No, don't apologise, it's alright. We can do it another night. Probably best, you're right about Alice. She might need a few days to get back to normal." He was nodding the entire time he spoke, as though trying to convince himself more than me. "Another time then, Princess."

Bronze gave my hand one final squeeze, saluted me and walked off down the hallway.

I don't think I had hurt him that badly, but it was hard to tell. I really didn't know a great deal about Bronze to be able to tell properly; and that just reaffirmed my decision to have some distance this evening and for us to wait before jumping into things.

If Bronze and I were together, I'd want it to be when we both knew enough about the other person to know if they were hurt, angry, or sad; I'd want it to be at a time where I wasn't worried about going to jail or having to report the school councillor; and I'd want it to be when we were both ready for a relationship.

We just weren't ready. Not yet anyway, but we would be, in time.

Sighing to myself, I couldn't help but wonder if I had just let one of the best things that had ever happened to me walk away without a second glance. Maybe tonight meant more to him than I knew. Maybe I should have said yes and gone with him. Maybe I was being foolish by even doubting otherwise.

Maybe…just maybe, I did the right thing by taking time for me. It was desperately needed, after all.


	10. Chapter 10: That's It

**My Sweet Thing**

**Chapter Ten: That's It**

My morning of chaos was, hopefully, behind me. I attended class after Bronze had walked away, and dutifully acted like the perfect student I wasn't. Keeping my head down was now the game plan. I didn't want any more confrontations, any more arguments, and I didn't want any more drama. I wanted peace and quiet so I could regroup my thoughts and sort myself out.

Sadly, not everyone got that memo.

I had been enjoying my lunch, eating away by myself, when I saw Rose across the lunchroom. She had just collected her tray of food and was walking straight towards me. Her face shone of mischief and I couldn't help but grit my teeth.

When would she ever back off and leave me alone?

"In the clear, huh?" Rose said, dropping her tray onto the table across from me. "I didn't take you as a squealer, Bella. But, then again, you did always moan and squeal in bed so why would this be any different?" She shrugged her shoulders as she placed her napkin on her lap.

"What exactly do you want, Rose? I can't imagine this is where you want to eat lunch." I was not going to sit there and take her bullshit. No way.

"No, you're right. I would much rather be elsewhere, but it seems Jasper misses your pretty little cunt too much so I've been sent to apologise. He tore me a new asshole for showing those pictures around, and then he came to the big realisation that while your white trash friend is jailbait, he would amuse himself with you in the meantime. I think he believes I will somehow get you to come back to bed with us." She rolled her eyes at his foolishness, as did I, and then grinned. "So here it is: I, Rosalie Hale, am dreadfully sorry I caused you such pain and anguish. Do you, Isabella Swan, forgive me?"

God, Rose was a bitch. Her fake smile was in place, and that pathetically fake voice grated on my nerves. Despite all that, I couldn't turn her apology down. I needed her to back off, and this was the only way to do that.

"Fine, I accept your apology, but I have a few conditions," I said, watching as her perfectly shaped eyebrow rose in surprise.

"And what would those conditions be? If you expect me to apologise to your white trash friends then you have another thing coming," she warned, glaring.

I rolled my eyes and picked at my lunch, trying not to lose my temper. "No, that wasn't one of them. I actually want you to leave them alone. Don't mess with them. No more impromptu haircuts. No more bullying the poor students. No more target practice. Leave them be."

Rose didn't argue with me, she could see that it would get her nowhere. "Fine. I won't go after your pathetic little friends anymore. Consider hunting season over. Is that it?"

"No, I have one other condition. Leave me alone. We're over. Done. Finished. Stop sabotaging my efforts to move on. Stop bringing up my past. Stop trying to drag me back down to your level. I'm out."

She pursed her lips for a moment and thought about it. My first condition wasn't an issue for her as she would eventually get bored and leave Bronze and Alice alone, but my second one was a little different. Jasper made her apologise to entice me back to them, and while we both knew it wasn't going to happen, she did it anyway. The fact that I was openly telling her I was done with them would throw a spanner in the works.

Rose could, and most likely would, move on without me. I would just become another face in the crowd for her, but for Jasper it would be completely different. At one time, not so long ago, he had us both. We were his. While we could do what we wanted, we still always went back to him. To cut that tie all together wasn't going to be easy, and I couldn't help but worry about his reaction.

"You want to be left alone, fine. I'll leave you alone," Rose said, nodding. "I can't make any promises for Jasper though."

"No, as long as you're backing off, that's alright. I'll handle Jasper." Rose laughed and shook her head.

"Good luck with that." I rolled my eyes at her and went back to my lunch.

I expected Rose to get her things and go sit somewhere else but instead, the two of us sat in silence eating. It was surprisingly pleasant, not to have her gunning for me all the time. She didn't make any remarks, didn't try and make small talk, and even gave me a small genuine smile when she walked away.

And that was it. There were no parting words or threats, no glares or glances, just nothing. It was a huge weight off my shoulders, and I sunk down in my chair feeling very relieved. For once, it actually seemed like things were falling in place.

Guilt still lay heavily on my shoulders, though, and I needed to try to heal that wound, if only a little.

Once my classes were done for the day, I asked my driver to head to the cemetery. Jake's grave was a place I seldom went, but today it felt like it was calling me there. Past visits consisted of me having emotional breakdowns that lasted weeks on end, and thoughts of suicide, all followed by more guilt.

How could I even think of taking my life after I took someone else's? It would be a holy injustice, and a slap in the face for Jake's memory. I couldn't do it, and never would, no matter how awful my life was, because at the end of the day, I was still living and he wasn't.

There was a slight chill as I stepped out of the car, leaving my things in the backseat. My driver offered to accompany me, but I politely told him it would be best for me to go alone. Without further ado, I followed the dusty road into the cemetery.

Despite not visiting Jake's grave frequently, I still knew its exact location, and walked straight towards it. Gravestones surrounded me, many family plots, and as I drew closer to Jake's, the Black name started to appear. Jake was buried among his ancestors, and right next to his mother, Sarah.

Seeing the two gravestones next to each other was another reminder of what I had done to the Black family. They had already lost Sarah, in a car accident, and then they lost Jake, thanks to me. There wasn't anything I could do to make up for that, no matter how hard I tried or wanted to.

I looked down at the neat flowers arranged at the bottom of both their headstones and knew Billy Black had to have been there recently. He had always been a great friend of my father's and thought of me as an angel. If only he knew.

Tears welled up in my eyes and I bit my lip, trying to fight back the tears. "I'm so sorry, Jake," I sobbed, clutching at my sleeves and wrapping my arms around myself. "I'm so so sorry."

It was like the dam had broken and emotions were flooding out of everywhere. I couldn't stand it, and it just burst out. Falling to my knees, I curled up on the grass and apologised. My sorrows kept coming, and before I knew it, I was lulling in and out of sleep, having exhausted myself.

"I never meant for this to happen, and I'm sorry. I loved you, I really did," I whispered, my face clammy and my forehead and hair damp from the tears. I was practically lying across his grave, but I wanted to be closer, just to be closer to him, to get some semblance of him back.

"Forgive me, because I will never forgive myself," I mumbled, kissing the gravestone softly. It was cool to the touch, but it offered some sort of comfort I didn't know I was craving. Crawling closer to it, I dropped my forehead against the stone and curled up again, using it to keep me upright.

For that very moment, I felt at peace. There was no black cloud hanging over me, no dark shadows cloaking my mind and thoughts. I could just sit there and feel numb. It was better than getting high and being drunk, the total numbness of it all. If I could replicate that feeling over and over again, it would be my new drug, and probably keep me sane.

All the built up sorrow and guilt could not be healthy for my mental state of mind.

I felt the first drops of rain on my hands and face, before the skies opened up. It was coming down in bucket loads, drenching me completely. I didn't have time to think, just hightailed it towards the trees for shelter.

My jumper was drenched, my shirt damp, and my bra was a little wet. My skirt and legs were soaking, and the cool breeze made it chillier. I wrapped my arms around my body and listened to my teeth chatter against each other, the rain still pouring down from above. Thankfully, the trees offered cover, and I was safe from the downpour.

Someone else had the same idea, and was sprinting towards me. I could already see that they, like myself, were drenched. The man's blue shirt was clinging to his body, his slacks a darker grey in areas that had been hit by the rain, but by the time he got to me they would be completely sodden.

It wasn't until he came closer that I realised who he was. Dr. Carlisle realised at the same moment as I did, and we both looked down at the ground suddenly. He walked into the tree line and tried to dry himself off a bit, but to no avail.

"I thought you'd be hiding at the bottom of a bottle by now," I remarked, looking at him closely.

He appeared to be perfectly sober, unlike earlier. But, then again, I hadn't thought him under the influence earlier until I had smelt it on him. He hid it well, and could have been hiding it again now.

"That's what I used to do when I completely screwed up, but now I find it better to visit the one person who I should try harder for," he replied, turning to look at me. He couldn't keep the eye contact long before he looked down at his sodden shoes and sighed. "What about you, why have you dragged yourself out here? I know from our sessions that you never did like it."

"I needed to see him, to speak to him," I replied, shrugging. Quite frankly, I didn't want to go into too much detail. Dr. Carlisle had no right to know. He had abused his trust and I wasn't going to suddenly open back up to him like nothing had happened.

"You begged for forgiveness, did you not?" I shot an accusatory look at him and shook my head angrily.

"You eavesdropped? How could you? That was private; you had absolutely no right to do so!"

"I did not eavesdrop, Bella," he said, shaking his hands at me. "I didn't even know you were here until I came over to get out of the rain."

"Then how did you know?"

"I did the exact same thing when I tried to move on with my life," he said, sighing once more.

I didn't know what to say to that. It was easy to forget that we were so alike. Before I could apologise for being so rude to him, he continued speaking.

"I can tell you now, Bella, that you will never get the forgiveness you seek. You'll go through life, and whatever ounce of happiness you find, you'll destroy it. It's your penance. Whether you mean to or not, you will make yourself miserable. Or at least, that's what I have found."

Walking backwards towards the trunk of the tree, Carlisle took a seat and leant back against it. He motioned for me to do the same, and I couldn't help myself. I sat down beside him, our shoulders touching, and watched as the rain continued to fall.

It didn't look to be letting up anytime soon, and I wondered how long we'd be there. While we could easily dash through the rain, given that we were already soaked, the fact that we were cut off from everyone else was rather nice. It certainly wasn't something I wanted to give up unless I had to.

Being away from it all, the drama and the trouble, made me feel relaxed. Going back to it was something I wasn't ready for, yet. I needed time, time to watch the rainfall and sit with a man who had gone through the exact same thing.

"They're buried here?" I asked, biting my lip afterwards. It was a personal question, and I didn't expect him to answer, but he did.

"Yes. While I didn't kill him here, at this hospital, his family was originally from here. When he died, they brought him back, buried him, and I somehow ended up following."

"Why?"

"I needed to see his life, before I took it from him. It became an obsession," he admitted, wiping the raindrops off his face. "Sometime after that, I gave up on the drink that caused my problems in the first place. I didn't think I'd ever taste another drop again."

"So why did you? Why did you ruin all your hard work?" Dr. Carlisle turned and looked at me, giving me a small, sad, smile.

"I heard about the fire and I just knew that it was over for you. No one can prove anything now, and there are no consequences. I was jealous, angry, and at the same time, relieved." He sighed once more, his eyes practically pleading with me for something, though what, I didn't know. "You're an amazing person, Bella, and you do deserve to live the rest of your life with happiness and joy. I just…I just…" Carlisle stopped, broke eye contact with me and waved his hand in dismissal.

"Tell me," I begged, needing to know what he was going to say.

"No. It would be better for both of us if I didn't. Just, enjoy your life, Bella. Don't dwell on the past."

I was desperate to know what he was going to say. He looked to be antagonizing over the situation, still, but I knew he wouldn't go back and tell me. He was done. That conversation was over.

We sat there in silence, watching the rain once again. It was therapeutic, and symbolic in some way. It really did feel like the rain was washing my pain away. Whether Carlisle felt the same, I didn't know. In fact, I didn't know much about him at all.

He was Dr. Carlisle, my councillor. I knew he was divorced and that he was once a doctor. He had a drinking problem, just fell off the wagon, and he had killed a patient due to it. He also made a pass at me…yeah.

I looked back at him, taking in his profile. It wasn't as if he was bad to look at. Hell, he was gorgeous. However, he was in a position of trust, and he had violated that trust. I still respected him, but it wasn't the same. I couldn't help but see him differently now, whereas before he was my frustrating councillor, now he was Carlisle, the only man who understood what I was going through.

I was staring too openly, and it caused him to turn. "You're thinking about this morning, aren't you?" My mumbled reply and the blush on my cheeks gave me away.

"Good Lord, what have I done?" he asked aloud, putting his face in his hands. "I'm not a monster, Bella, I promise you, I'm not." The pain in his voice was so very obvious, but I wasn't going to comfort him. That would send the wrong messages.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry for even thinking it, I'm sorry for almost acting on those thoughts, and I'm sorry that it's changed things between us. I want you to know, I've resigned as the school councillor. I sent my resignation in after I woke this afternoon. I couldn't stay there, see you every day and I certainly wouldn't be able to pretend that nothing had happened. It wouldn't be right."

"You resigned?" My body broke out in goose bumps at the thought. He couldn't resign. He couldn't leave me there, alone, with no one to talk to. That wasn't how it was meant to be. Absolutely not.

"I had to, you have to understand why," he stressed. His eyes met mine, and I knew exactly why.

"That wasn't just a drunk moment of insanity, was it? You…you…you… care for me?" I didn't know how to say it, and like sounded so juvenile, and this certainly wasn't a juvenile situation. Hell, this wasn't even a legal situation.

I broke eye contact. I didn't want to see the sadness in his eyes, the pain that was hidden there, and the sorrow lurking beneath. He didn't have to answer me, I knew that I was correct. It was written all over his face. It wasn't that creepy pervert look that the local flasher gives you right before he freeballs it, but instead it was an affectionate one, as though lust wasn't a driving factor.

"Shit," I mumbled, shaking my head in complete disbelief.

Carlisle chuckled and nodded. "Shit, indeed."

"So with you gone, what's going to happen to my counselling sessions?"

"A new councillor with be hired pretty soon. They won't know as much as I do, I suspect, but I think they'll be able to help with some of your problems."

"My problems?" I asked, trying not to sound offended. Carlisle grinned and shot me a knowing look.

"Yes, your problems. You can't drive a car since the accident, in fact, you utterly refuse to even sit in the front of the vehicle. You also carry a deep hatred and shame around with you, which they may be able to help with, and you have a slightly self-destructive streak to you."

"I thought you said that I would always seek self-destruction, no matter what?"

"I did, and you will, but they may be able to tone it down a bit. They'll have a completely different view to this situation than I did, and it'll help, trust me."

Trust me. Two very simple words, with a hell of a significance behind them. Was I capable of fully trusting Carlisle again, like I had before? Or were things broken beyond repair?

"The rain is letting up, we should be able to make it back to our cars," he said, rising to his feet.

Carlisle held out his hand for me to take, and helped me up. With little distance between us, I saw the man up close. He really was gorgeous, but it still felt wrong even thinking that about him. A schoolgirl crush is allowed, but when you know that your crush has feelings for you, it's an entirely different game, and a very dangerous one at that.

"Thank you," I muttered, taking my hand back and striding out from under the trees.

I could hear him following behind me, keeping a safe distance, until we got to the parking lot. My driver was still there, and hopped out the car with an umbrella the second he saw me. It was only spitting lightly, so I wasn't concerned about the rain. My clothes were still damp, but no longer uncomfortable.

I wanted to get as far from Carlisle as possible, in case my driver suspected something, but he made that impossible. Ever so softly, he reached out and touched my arm. I turned and was met, once again, with his piercing eyes. They held so many emotions, it was impossible to decipher which one was taking over.

"Wait, just for a second," he whispered, coming closer. I felt a shiver run up my spine at his words, and nodded. "I do care for you, Bella, but I refuse to be the thing that holds you back. There is a lovely young man waiting in the wings for you. Go enjoy yourself, and live a life to be proud of. You deserve someone better than a drunk like me. You got that second chance so many would kill for, use it wisely, for Jake." He leant down quickly and kissed my cheek, and then that was it. He walked away quickly, heading towards his car.

I was too dazed to move, and couldn't take my eyes off him drive away, out of sight. It felt like I was suddenly at a divide with two paths ahead of me and I had to choose. On one side, there was Bronze, my Bronze. He was kind, funny, sweet, and safe. On the other, there was Carlisle, a man I knew nothing about, but one I wanted to get to know. He was unknown, and the riskier of the two.

While it may have felt like there was two paths to choose from, there really was only one. Carlisle had blocked his off, cutting me out, removing me from the equation. I was going to respect that, and let it go. That was the plan, at least.

From then on, I was going to make my own path. I didn't need to rely on Bronze, Carlisle or anyone else. I had to start taking charge for myself. Since Jake's death, my life had been nothing but chaos, drama, and pain. That had changed. I no longer felt that life wasn't worth living.

Like Carlisle said, I got that second chance, and now was the time to use it.

* * *

A.N.

Forgot to mention this in my last update, but huge thanks to BellaSunshine for rec'ing this wee story to her readers. Can't thank you enough! And cheers to all those readers that decided to come and have a read.

Thanks for reading!


	11. Chapter 11: A Friend

**My Sweet Thing**

**Chapter Eleven: A Friend**

True to my word, I kept things calm. The following few days at school were boring and dull, and I loved it. Rose kept her distance, Jasper avoided me like the plague, and while I would have liked to have seen Bronze and Alice, the two of them gave me a wide berth. It was to be expected, and I wasn't too fussed.

For once, I had time to focus on getting my grades back up where they should have been originally. My teachers were pleasantly surprised by my continued attendance and effort in class, and my new outlook on life was having a positive affect all round. The only hiccup was my counselling sessions. With Dr. Carlisle gone, I had a lot more time back to focus on my studies, which was great, but I knew it wouldn't last.

I had already been called aside this week and told his replacement was going to arrive on Monday. My sessions were mandatory, and no matter how much I begged and pleaded, they wouldn't let me off. It was safe to say, I was not looking forward to Monday.

I didn't want a stranger analysing everything I said and did. I didn't want them asking questions and prying into the past. I didn't want them ruining my new mood. What I wanted was Carlisle. He was the only one who would understand, and therefore the only one I could really talk to about it. This stranger was just going to cause chaos, I just knew it.

Alas, that was Monday's problem; I still had to get through the remainder of the week before then.

Having arrived early at school, I headed straight to the library to finish off some work. It just seemed like the right idea to keep focused. Hell, with the right grades I could actually make something with my life, not just squander it away.

The place was pretty deserted when I arrived, and I quickly found a table near the back that looked suitable enough. Spreading out my books and worksheets, I caught up to where I had left off and got straight to it. There was enough time to finish it off before classes started, and that would give me free time that evening, for a change. I had spent so many hours trying to catch up, it was unreal. I didn't even know how I had gotten so far behind.

I was getting through things rather well, before I was interrupted, and for a change, I liked this interruption. Bronze had taken a seat across from me and was smiling softly,

"Hello, gorgeous," he said, leaning forward and taking my hand in his. I blushed and shook my head at him.

"I thought we were meant to quote movies to one another." He grinned and nodded.

"I did. Hello gorgeous is the opening line in the movie Funny Girl." Frowning, I bit my lip and shook my head.

"I've never heard of it," I replied, shrugging.

"I hadn't either, to be honest, but Wikipedia assures me that's true." He smirked and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Is that not cheating, looking up quotes online?" I asked, gently squeezing his hand in mine. Bronze's smirk grew once again, and turned into a grin. He leant further forward, looking at me slyly.

"I wouldn't call it cheating, Princess, more like getting creative." I rolled my eyes and grinned.

"Whatever, it was a nice opening. Thank you."

"Oh you're very welcome," he said, licking his lips slowly. "Look, I know we're just working out what's going on but I feel that I have to say this now before I miss my chance." Bronze paused and took a breath. "The very first day we met, I told you that someday I was going to make you my sweet thing, not overtly – but surreptitiously, and only now I realise how foolishly wrong I was. You have captivated me completely, and I am yours, irrefutably. Whenever you want me, I will be there, waiting." Picking up my hand, he kissed the back of it softly, his lips warm to the touch. "So take all the time you need, Princess, I'm not going anywhere."

For that moment alone, I couldn't think of one good reason why we were waiting.

Bronze hadn't run when he found out about my sordid past, and he hadn't fled when I told him about Jake. He had stayed with me, was exceedingly supportive, and was willing to take the brunt of Rose and Jasper's malicious attacks. He had never needed a reason, he was just there. So why was I pushing him away? What time did I need? What could I possibly be waiting for that wasn't right in front of me?

On the other hand, what if we rushed things? What if we jumped straight into a relationship only to have it ruin things? Was it too soon to even think about starting a relationship? Was I even capable of having one?

Bronze would be my first ever boyfriend, and I didn't even know where to begin. What did a boyfriend and girlfriend do together, aside from the obvious? And what if I messed it up?

Good lord, I was working myself into a mess right there and then.

Bronze had sat back in his seat, leaving my hand on the table. My lack of response clearly wasn't what he was hoping for. I sighed and shook my head, trying to backtrack quickly so I didn't offend him. He was going to get the complete wrong impression, and all because I had a mental freak out.

"I'm sorry, I was a little overwhelmed," I said, biting my lip nervously. He shrugged and nodded.

"I shouldn't have been so forward, it was wrong of me."

"No, it wasn't, really. I just…I'm not sure what's stopping me from saying 'let's just be together' but there is something. I can't explain it, but I'm not ready. I want to be, I do, but I'm not. It would be wrong to start something now when I'm not completely into it. I'm sorry. Thank you. Thank you for being honest and being patient. Trust me, one of these days, your patience will pay off."

I reached my hand out for his again, and was relieved when he responded. His hand gave mine a squeeze and he nodded once more, looking down at his lap.

"Just keep me in your thoughts." With one final squeeze, he let my hand go and got up. "Have a good day and look after yourself. I'll see you around, Princess." Bronze tucked in his chair and headed for the door, disappearing behind bookcases.

What was with all the men in my life walking away from me?

Bronze left me, closing conversation completely, and Dr. Carlisle had done the exact same thing. Both seemed to have my best interests at heart; Bronze, willing to wait until I was ready for a relationship, and Carlisle, not wanting to be the thing that held me back in life.

They were making things easier for me, but also harder. I was in a fragile state, yes, but I wanted someone to talk to, someone who would be there for me. I didn't want them to walk away and leave me to myself. I needed time, before I could date Bronze, but that didn't mean I wanted nothing to do with him. I wanted his friendship, and yet he kept walking away. Carlisle had cut off all forms of communication by resigning, and clearly he wasn't going to talk to me unless I made it happen.

The only other person I could think of was Alice, and I had no idea whether or not she knew about Jake. Bronze did say that he would tell her, on my behalf, but I had no clue if he had done so or not. Hell, would she even want to be my friend after what I had done?

Sighing, I closed my books and packed up my things. I couldn't concentrate anymore. My brain was too clogged up. Throwing everything in my bag, I headed to my first class. I was ridiculously early, but was quite happy to sit in the classroom until it began.

The first few lessons were a blur. I couldn't stop overanalysing everything. I had effectually shunned myself and cut any and all friends from my life. There was no way I could go back to Rose, she was liability, and Jasper was a definite no. There were a few girls I could have gone to, but they didn't know about Jake, and that would just be pointless. How was I to explain to someone that all my fears, problems and issues stemmed from some big event, and then not tell them said event?

Impossible.

I was alone, it was as simple as that, and I hated it. I was caught up on most of my schoolwork, so had plenty of free time, and no one to spend it with. I had gone from being one of the most popular students in the school, to being a complete pariah. _Well done, you finally got that peaceful lifestyle you always wanted. _

The bell rang and woke me from my thoughts. Friends or no friends, I had to knuckle down and just keep going. High school wasn't the end of the world, and there was so much more waiting on me once I left. If no one was willing to be my friend, then oh well. I'd deal. Somehow. I think. Maybe. Maybe not. Yeah. No.

I headed back to my locker and chucked my things inside, getting ready to go to the library. This would have been my counsellor slot, but yeah… Grumbling to myself internally, I shut my locker door and made to turn and leave.

"Bella, darlin', I think we need to talk," Jasper purred, running his hand down my arm, before taking hold of my hand. I hadn't even seen him approach, or him come and stand next to me. The man had been completely silent.

"Funnily enough, Jasper, I know we don't need to talk, so goodbye." I pursed my lips and attempted to walk away. He tugged me back and encased me in his arms, practically holding me still.

"Let's not play hard to get, you know I'll win." I glared at him and gave a quick shove, freeing my body from him.

Just my luck, I wanted someone to talk to and this leech answered my prayers. _Really not what I had in mind, God, but thanks anyway. _

"Fine, we'll talk, but keep your slimy hands off of me." He grinned and waved his hand flamboyantly in front of us, waiting for me to lead the way.

I headed along the corridor with him at my side, and waited for his cue as to where we were going. He pointed towards the girls' bathroom, and opened the door for me to enter first. I checked the stalls, and once satisfied the place was actually empty, I took a seat on the countertop. Jasper paced the floor, drawing the whole process out like some dramatic theatre performance. He wanted me to get sucked in and speak first, but that wasn't happening. I wasn't going to play his games.

"Okay, here's the problem," he said, stopping in the middle of the floor. "You refused Rose's offer, and you asked that we stay away from you and your pathetic little friends. Not only was I exceedingly hurt by your rejection, but I was also angry that you're denying me new meat. So I just can't abide by your rules, Bella, and do you know why I can't do that?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at me.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "No, Jasper, I don't know why you can't do that. I mean, you technically can do it, you just don't want to." Smarmy bastard was going to make things difficult for me, I just knew it.

"Yes, but I have a good reason for not wanting to. Your little friend turns sixteen this year and her ass is legal, I intend to be all over that by then, but the only way to do that is to get her to like me. How is she to like me if she never speaks to me?" Jasper crossed his arms and shook his head, looking disappointed. "She can't; she can't like me if she never speaks to me."

"Frankly, Jasper, I'm rather pleased to hear that. I don't want you near her. I made it clear to Rose and I will make it clear to you. You need to back the fuck off, from me and from Edward and Alice. She is never going to like you, or let you touch her. So why don't you just drop this now? She's not going to be another notch on your belt, and she's not going to be another virgin to fall into your bed. Leave her alone, and for the love of God, leave me alone because I am done with your theatrics. Did you honestly think that I would care about your little problem?"

Jasper mood swiftly changed and I knew that I had spoken too freely with him. He thought he was being kind and considerate, asking for some kind of sick permission to fuck Alice, and I had thrown that back in his face abruptly.

"I don't think you truly understand the situation, Bella. Alice is prime for the taking, and if it's not me that gets her, someone else will. You want me to refresh your memory on all the other guys currently eyeing up your friend? Jamie wants some of that action, and I know a few guys on the football team who want a slice, too. Those sick fucks will do it the easy way, roofies and shit like that, but with me, you know she's going to be willing and you know she's going to enjoy it. You enjoyed it." He smirked at me and crossed his arms.

I wasn't actually aware that other guys had their eyes on Alice, and I hadn't even considered that because she was fresh meat and just about to turn legal that they would be competing with one another for her. The lot of them were sick fucks, but that was an entirely different issue altogether.

"If I recall, I enjoyed it right until I realised that you only wanted to be the guy I fucked first."

"And aren't you glad it was me and not some other wanker? You broke many a hearts that night, Bella. Rose was most impressed with your choice, though," he said, stretching his arms above his head, looking cockily at me.

"Of course she was, she didn't want me falling from grace quite so soon." Jasper smirked and nodded. Rose had been rather adamant that I lose my virginity to Jasper, seeing as he had taken hers. I had also been the first girl Rose had been with, and vice versa. Sex was the only thing that held us together.

"So, I believe I am the best man for the job, for young Alice." His grin was almost malicious. "Don't you agree?"

"No, I don't. Considering its Alice's decision who she sleeps with, I don't think this is any of our business." Jasper couldn't help but laugh, shaking his head.

"Darling, don't be so foolish as to believe that tripe you just sprouted. She will have sex before the year is out; do not delude yourself into thinking otherwise. It'll either be me, or a guy with no morals, so make sure you choose wisely."

"Me? Why am I deciding for her?" I ignored his point about having morals. That was utter bullshit but it really wasn't worth arguing with him about it.

"Because you're still Bella Swan, and while you may pretend that means nothing, it does. If you asked any of your guys to break up with their girlfriends, they would. They lust you, unbelievably so. If you asked them to leave poor little Alice alone, they would. However, if you sit back and let the mess unfold itself, well, poor little Alice is going to be chucked out of bed by an absolute prick, one you didn't protect her from. So, darling, choose wisely. Either find out who she likes, or pick a guy for her. And for both our sakes, it better be me."

Clearly, my reputation hadn't died along with Jake, like one would hope it had.

Growling, I jumped off the counter and shoved Jasper backwards. He was making the entire situation impossible, and for once, I wanted to just throttle the bastard and not feel guilty about it.

"I'm fucking sick of your utter bullshit!" He pushed me back, a determined look upon his face, and I knew that if I hit him he would hit me back. "Urgh! Can't you just, for once, let someone decide his or her own fate? Must you play God with everything? Alice is sweet, innocent, kind and someone with a soul. She doesn't need you and your lecherous friends panting after her. I'm serious Jasper, leave her be. She won't sleep with any of you." He scoffed at me and shook his head.

"You're wrong, and you know it. In addition, these lecherous friends you mention, are also yours. You've ridden every one of them, darling," he spat, looking royally pissed. "So don't try and act all high and mighty now. You fucked them, you led them on, you teased and tasted every one of them. Lecherous, I think not; unless you're painting yourself with that very same brush."

I took a step back and tried to calm myself down. He was right; of course he was right. I wasn't any different from them. However, I had changed. I had made an effort to change, which was something I couldn't' say for them.

"Look, I know that some of them are great guys, and that you can be a great friend, but this isn't my choice, and nor is it any of yours. Alice should at least get to decide who she's going to lose her virginity to, it shouldn't be pawned away in the girls bathroom over a free period. Just let her decide."

Jasper frowned and sighed. "I'm going to let the guy's know that you picked me." I opened my mouth to protest but he quickly shushed me. "If I don't, then she may not get a choice about when she loses it," he stressed.

There were some creepy fuckers in our year. Thankfully, I hadn't slept with any of them, or at least if I had, I couldn't remember it. Drugs are a bitch at times.

"Thank you," I said curtly. I hated that he was going to protect her and at the same time that put him in front running to sleep with her. I was secretly hoping that Alice had more sense than to fall for his tricks.

"One last thing, before you run away with your tail between your legs," Jasper said, toying with a smile on his lips. "I'll drop my whole pursuit of Alice, under one condition."

Whatever he was going to say, wasn't going to be good.

"Oh?" I tried not to sound too interested in his reply. He was baiting me, I knew it, and there was nothing I could do about it.

"Yes. You see, I'd love to fuck Alice, very much so, but I'd also like you back in my bed. We had great times together, Bella, and –"

"Oh my God, I can't believe you," I said, shaking with anger. "You're not seriously going to say what I think you are, are you?" His smirk gave him away.

"I'll leave Alice alone if you come back to me. It's her or you, and I'm not picky about which one, as long as I get one of you sucking my dick. So, who's it going to be? You willing to get back into bed with the devil for her, or would you rather save yourself now that you're reformed? "

"You're a sick fucker!" He took that to be some kind of compliment. "I'm not going to sleep with you, and just for that, I'm going to go out of my way to make sure Alice doesn't either." With nothing more to say, I left as fast as possible.

There was a selfish side to Jasper, and I knew he would still tell everyone that I gave him the go ahead on Alice. He wouldn't want the others getting angsty and sampling something he thought was his. At least with that, she was somewhat protected. How I protected her from Jasper, though, was an entirely different thing all together. Shoving all those thoughts to one side, I blocked them out for later.

With ten minutes to go, I headed to the cafeteria to grab an early lunch before the masses entered. There was no reason for me to wait, as I had no one to wait for. Once again, I was alone, and it was becoming a habit. The same happened in the rest of my lessons, and when the bell finally rang, signalling the end of the day, I knew there was no reprieve. After all, I was going home to an empty house.

"Home, Miss Swan?" my driver asked, looking at me in the rear-view mirror. I sighed and nodded, and then changed my mind.

"Actually, can you take me to Wiltshire Road, please?"

"Of course. Any particular house?"

"Thirty-four. Thanks."

We were on our way before I had time to really analyse what I was doing. Somewhere between walking to the car and getting in, I had made the decision to do something stupid, and this seemed to be the perfect thing.

My driver stopped a few houses down, per request, and let me out. After specifically telling him not to relay my location to my father, if he was to ask, I told him to head home. If I wanted a lift back, I could call a cab.

Mustering up all the confidence I could find, I walked up the street, towards the house. Thirty-four was stamped on the rather imposing front gates, and just looking at it had me doubting my decision.

Fuck it.

I pushed open the gate and walked up the path, past the perfectly manicured lawn. The house was much bigger than I imagined it to be, and yet it was completely fitting. Without a second thought, I rang the doorbell and waited.

I could feel myself becoming more anxious by the second. Chewing on my lip, I briefly wondered if I could make a run for it before the door opened. On the other hand, I needed this, I really did. My hands were becoming shaky and all the confidence I had was gone by the time the door finally opened.

"Bella, what are you doing here?"

"Hi, Carlisle. I…I needed someone to talk to, and you're the only one who understands." He stood in the doorframe, eyeing me with uncertainty and surprise, before opening the door wider to let me in. I silently thanked God, and stepped forward, to head inside.

Despite our last conversation, this felt right. I needed him, I needed to talk to him, and even though things were…difficult…between us, he was still willing to listen, like I knew he would be.

If there was one person I could count on, it was him.

* * *

A.N.

Sorry if people thought this story was over, it's really just beginning. Thanks for reading! See you next time!


	12. Chapter 12: Someone

**My Sweet Thing**

**Chapter Twelve: Someone **

_I pushed open the gate and walked up the path, past the perfectly manicured lawn. The house was much bigger than I imagined it to be, and yet it was completely fitting. Without a second thought, I rang the doorbell and waited._

_I could feel myself becoming more anxious by the second. Chewing on my lip, I briefly wondered if I could make a run for it before the door opened. On the other hand, I needed this, I really did. My hands were becoming shaky and all the confidence I had was gone by the time the door finally opened._

_"Bella, what are you doing here?"_

_"Hi, Carlisle. I…I needed someone to talk to, and you're the only one who understands." He stood in the doorframe, eyeing me with uncertainty and surprise, before opening the door wider to let me in. I silently thanked God, and stepped forward, to head inside._

_Despite our last conversation, this felt right. I needed him, I needed to talk to him, and even though things were…difficult…between us, he was still willing to listen, like I knew he would be._

_If there was one person I could count on, it was him._

Carlisle led me through his house, and into his study, located at the back of the property. I couldn't help but have a good look around as we walked, taking in everything I could see. His house was well furnished, rich furniture adorned each room, and state of the art technology donned the place. He must have made a lot of money as a doctor, because there was just no way he would have earned enough off a simple counsellor's salary.

"I have to say, I'm surprised to see you," Carlisle began, breaking me from my thoughts as we entered his study. He shut the door behind him and motioned for me to take a seat on the couch, facing a simple armchair, where he sat down.

"I didn't have anywhere else to go. No one understands me like you do." He nodded and smoothed down his shirt, avoiding eye contact with me.

"Bella, I may understand your situation better than anyone else, but I'm not the best person to talk to about your problems. As far as I'm concerned, I'm the worst person to come to," he said, sighing. "On Monday, you'll have no option but to open up to someone who doesn't know about Jake, and that might be a blessing. You can finally get the proper help you need and move on with your life."

"I'm trying to move on with my life, but it's not as easy as one thinks," I replied, clutching my hands in my lap. I didn't want him to throw me out, I needed to talk to someone, and yes, I was taking liberties by coming to him, but I had no choice.

"What did you need to talk about?" Carlisle asked, finally looking at me.

He was changing the subject, and for now, I'd let him do that. There was no way I was going to let him preach to me, though. He may have been able to move on from his indiscretion, but I couldn't do that so easily, not when there were so many reminders around me.

"I'm alone. At school, there is really no one who I can talk to about anything, and now that you're not there, I have no one I can lean on. Yes, I didn't like our sessions at the time, but now, I realise how precious they were. I just want…need someone to talk to." He listened and crossed his legs, waiting for me to continue.

"What do you want to talk about? Is it something that's worrying you, or do you just want to engage in conversation with anyone?"

I couldn't tell him how I worried that I would lose Bronze, because that wouldn't be fair. And I couldn't tell him that with each passing hour, I wondered what it would be like to just get to know him on a personal level. That would be cruel.

"I just want a friend," I confessed, shrugging.

Carlisle closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead; the silence deafening. I didn't know what more to say, as that was the truth. I needed a friend, and I didn't have one. Bronze only wanted a relationship with me, Alice was nowhere to be seen, Rose wasn't friend material, Jasper was a jackass, and everyone else at school knew of my reputation to party hard and fuck harder. Making new friends would be impossible.

"And you want me to be your friend, is that what you're saying?" I looked up at him as he spoke and bit my lip.

"I already think we're on the way to becoming friends." It was half true. The potential was there, we just needed to act on it. However, I doubted Carlisle wanted to be my friend.

"You have to understand how this is difficult for me," he said, sitting forward in his chair. "I used to be your counsellor, if people find out, they'll talk. There is also the other reason."

He didn't need to elaborate, we both knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Look, all I need to know is if you have a problem with spending time with me? I want to talk to you, not as though you're my councillor, but as if you're my friend. I don't want you to coach me along, I just want your support and your honest opinion, not your sugar-coated counsellor one."

"This is where I'm conflicted," he answered, giving me an honest look. "I would love to spend time with you, but for purely selfish reasons. You need a friend, and I'm very close to you, so I can understand why you would come here. However, I have been paid to be very close to you, I have been paid to know your secrets, and I have been paid to keep them. I know everything about you, and you know practically nothing about me-"

"Well, let's change that. Tell me something about yourself," I said, cutting him off. He shook his head and continued.

"It can't work like that. We need to keep this professional. Surely you can understand why it would be inappropriate for us to have some kind of personal relationship?" Without waiting for me to answer, he ploughed ahead. "I don't think this is the right thing to do, Bella. If I'm being honest, I think you know this is the wrong thing to do, but you'll do it anyway. Why? Because you're self-destructive. You want to take the wrong path, it's in your nature."

Instead of sitting and taking that possible insult, I did interject.

"That might have been my nature all along! And yes, I made one major mistake so far, but that doesn't mean every choice I've made has been the wrong one! Yes, I've done things most people would never dream of doing, but I had fun and I enjoyed myself. I can safely say I don't have many regrets. Obviously, I wish I could have changed that night, but from Jake's death, I've become a new person. No one ever said that I would become a better person," I pointed out, sitting back in chair.

I may have changed, and fought to reinvent myself, but I was still the same Bella as before. The only difference now being that I didn't drink, didn't take drugs, and I didn't have a long line of sexual partners out my door the last few months.

Carlisle sat back and watched me for a moment, mulling over what I had said. He was caving, I could see it. He knew I was right. This was me, and while I had changed, I couldn't change entirely. That would simply be impossible. Plus, I didn't want to change entirely. There were parts of me I was happy with, almost proud of, and why should they be dismissed so easily?

"We need to keep this professional," he stated, playing with his cufflinks. I silently cheered and fought a smile. He noted anyway and rolled his eyes, rising to his feet. "I'm going to treat you like a patient, Bella, and that's all I can offer you. We can't be friends. That's my offer, take it or leave it?"

While I did want his friendship, I wasn't going to turn down the chance just to talk to him, to someone who understood.

"Okay, I can work with that," I replied, nodding slowly and biting my lip. It wasn't exactly what I wanted but it would do.

"I'm going to record our sessions," he said, removing a recorder from the desk drawer and placing it on the table. "These conversations will stay strictly between us, however, I need the security these tapes will offer if anyone is to discover your trips over here."

It was all completely understandable, and although it would be incriminating, I couldn't argue. His reputation hung on the line, especially since I wasn't going to be paying him. If word got out about us spending time together, now that he was no longer my counsellor, people would just automatically jump to the wrong conclusions.

"I will do everything in my power to keep these tapes private," Carlisle said, catching my eye as he hit the record button and sat back down.

Then just like that, we fell back into the rolls as counsellor and patient. He asked questions, I answered with a lot more involvement than I had at school, and after an hour or so of working through some of the things I said we called it a night.

It was just what I needed, and I couldn't help myself from thanking Carlisle profusely as he showed me to the door. My driver was waiting for me, having received a call moments before to come pick me up, and I knew I'd have to talk to him about what was going on lest he get any ideas about what was actually happening.

Leaving his house, having agreed to see him the following night, I felt lighter and somewhat relaxed. I had someone. There was someone who cared enough about me to risk their reputation to talk to me, to be a part of my life, even if it was strictly professional. I wasn't alone, and that thought brought a small smile to my lips.

* * *

Sitting in what was once my favourite chair, I waited patiently for the woman across from me to speak. She was reading over my case notes, Carlisle's notes, and nodding along with them, oblivious to my discomfort.

As far as I was concerned, this was always going to be Carlisle's office. Not Dr. Carlisle, just Carlisle. While he did deserve the title he had earned, he had admitted after one of our sessions that it made him uncomfortable given how he had ended his careers, as a doctor and as a counsellor.

Hating to admit it, I missed his presence in school. He practically had to drag me to our sessions but now, after everything, I wish we didn't have to talk in secret, record our time together just in case, and that he could have been the one sitting across from me at that moment.

Instead, I was stuck with some shrill looking blonde woman, who had yet to acknowledge me.

_What a great fucking start. _

I refused to play into the woman's hand, though, and kept my mouth shut. Rather than let her know how the silence was grating my nerves, I took in her office, checking out the new books on the shelves, and the new pictures on the walls.

She had decent taste, from what I could tell, and her dress sense seemed to back that up. If it wasn't for her lack of manners, I suspected that she would have been less annoying that Dr. Carlisle first was.

With each second that passed, though, I was growing more impatient. If I wanted to waste my time, I could at least be doing it in the library pretending to study. She wasn't even reading my notes anymore, either. She was just sitting across from me, looking round the room, much like I was, and occasional we would catch the other glancing over.

How was this helpful to me? What was this helping me overcome?

I sighed and shifted in my seat, casting a look up to the new clock she had put on the wall. We had another ten minutes until I could leave and head to class. Ten minutes. I could last ten minutes in silence with her. Easy.

Though, it turned out, that wasn't going to be the case.

"You lasted thirty five minutes, I'm impressed," she said, nonchalantly. "Most don't last past ten." Dr. Tanner's words took a moment to sink in.

"Was this a test?" I asked, glaring at her.

"No, not a test. I just wanted to see how comfortable you were with being here." Clearly she mistook my silence to mean I was quite content having sat there for nothing. "Your notes are rather vague, not as detailed as all the other students, why is that?"

I didn't see why I should reply to her, given her trickery. However, by not answering I would be practically confirming there was a reason Carlisle had kept things vague.

"I never really felt comfortable opening up to Dr. Carlisle," I answered, hoping my mask was in place so she wouldn't catch my lie.

"Do you feel comfortable opening up to me?" _No. _

"Maybe," I replied, shrugging. "You'll just have to wait and see."

She smirked at my comment and nodded, placing her pen down onto the desk. I didn't like the smirk, as if she knew something I didn't. Catching her eye, I raised my eyebrows in question and she smiled wider.

"One thing Dr. Carlisle was very clear about in his notes was that you like to be in control of the situation, keep people guessing. You did just that, not only by waiting thirty five minutes before showing clear disdain of having been kept waiting, but by giving me an ambiguous response." I eyed her carefully and help my head up higher, not so happy with where this seemed to be going.

"So the real question, Miss Swan, is what have you lost control of? What makes you try to control every situation, in the hope to finally have the upper hand on that _one _which has become so unattainable? Where did you lose control?"

Rising quickly, I grabbed my bag and headed towards the door. She was hitting too close to home and I didn't like it, so I was doing what I did best from a hard situation; running.

"I will see you next session," she called, sounding unsurprised by my departure.

If anything, I played right into her hands. I couldn't control what she was saying, what way she was leading the conversation so I took myself out of the equation, effectively removing myself from her critical eye.

Next session was going to be impossible, that was for sure.

I bit back my groan and continued down the corridor like nothing had happened. If running from my problems didn't work, denial was the next best route to take.

* * *

Turned out my next session with Dr. Tanner was as annoying as the first, but there seemed to be some sort of mutual respect forming between the two of us. She didn't push the issue of my sudden departure last session, nor the need to be in control of every situation. For that I was thankful, and actually felt a little better leaving her office.

However, I was still seeing Carlisle almost every evening, and talking to him just felt so much better than talking to her. He had an understanding Dr Tanner was just incapable of having, which I was slightly glad about, but it made things difficult. They both knew different people, basically. Dr. Tanner was getting the mask of perfection still, while Carlisle was getting the honest and broken Bella. I wanted to somehow take the mask off, but it seemed more and more unlikely with each passing school day.

Of course, I spent most of my time by myself. From time to time, I would see Alice and Bronze, happily chatting, or I would see Rose and Jasper joking about, both groups doing fine without me and I'd get a little pang in my chest. Neither seemed to notice my absence.

Alice, I could understand. She clearly wasn't comfortable with me yet, and I wasn't going to push that issue. I was basically a murderer, who wants to be friends with one of them? So I got why she kept her distance. It wasn't as though she was avoiding me completely, however. Our eyes would meet every now and then, for only a few seconds, and then she'd give me a small smile and return to what she was doing. I took that to mean progress. Thank God.

Her brother on the other hand, was sort of an enigma. One minute he was hot and the next cold. He was all for declarations and stating his intentions towards me, but he also avoided me like the plague most of the time. We hadn't actually had a proper conversation since the last time we spoke, and that was two weeks ago.

If I didn't know any better, I would think I'd lost his interest. And hell, if that was the case, then okay. It was nice knowing him while I did. I certainly wasn't going to get upset about it seeing as if he wanted to date me he could surely be my friend first.

There was the factor of loyalty, though, to Alice. If she wasn't comfortable around me, then it made sense that her brother would keep his distance until that cleared over. If it ever did.

Until either Cullen made their move, I was just going to keep buckling down and putting myself back together. I would never truly be 'fixed' but I certainly could improve my opinion of myself, that was for sure.

Carlisle helped, each night offering me comforting words and friendly smiles, and despite us keeping up with the professionalism, he was becoming a dear friend, my only friend.

It was nice.

Grabbing my lunch, I quietly made my way towards the back of the cafeteria and sat down. Rather than tuck myself away, Carlisle was encouraging me to actually eat among other students, even if I wasn't eating with them. Despite every cell in my body telling me that I looked pathetic, I still tucked into my lunch and ate it at a regular pace.

To be honest, it was rather scary. Some would look over at me, laugh and return to their delightful conversations, and others would give me looks of pity. Oh how the mighty has fallen. They were all thinking it, I knew that. Last year I had them all in the palm of my hand, and this year I was lucky if one of them even spoke to me.

I was getting what I deserved, for the somewhat harsh and cruel way I ignored and treated them. It was only fair, and for that, I couldn't be a coward. I refused to run away, like I had been doing with everything. I needed to stick it out.

Yes, it was only lunch, but it felt like much more than that. I didn't have followers, minions, and lackeys hanging off my every word, doing what I wanted, and pushing their needs aside. No, I was experiencing the harsh reality that was high school from the other side of the social food chain.

I couldn't run from this. They hadn't been allowed to run from it when I laughed at them, and I wasn't going to do the same. They could look on judgingly all they wanted, it wasn't going to make a difference. I needed to sit there. I needed to be at the mercy of their dirty looks. I needed to accept their judgements and not give a shit about it. They could think what they wanted, it wasn't going to change me. I refused to be the puppet to the peer pressure puppeteer.

I'd definitely learnt from my mistake.

Tucking into my food, I surveyed the room again, and this time caught a familiar face smiling softly at me. They worked their way across the room, heading straight in my direction, and I couldn't help but swallow nervously.

Alice planted her tray down in front of me and sat down. She didn't move to start her lunch, but instead bit her lip anxiously and looked at me.

"I've been a bad friend," she confessed, dropping her head. "Edward told me everything, and instead of coming to talk to you, I avoided you. If I'm being honest, I was shocked and scared by what I'd been told. I wasn't expecting that, at all." Looking back at me, she nodded slowly before continuing; mentally prepping herself to go on.

"My past experiences with people who have substance abuse problems have all been horrifically bad, and I painted you with the same brush I painted them; hence the avoidance. However, it came to my attention that you're nothing like those from my past. You've changed. You've made the effort to be someone better, and I shouldn't hold your past against you as it has nothing to do with me. I'm sorry for taking so long to digest everything, and I hope that we can still be friends, if that's possible."

Dropping her shoulders, Alice relaxed slightly and waited for me to respond. I really was at a loss for words, completely taken aback by her apology. Alice had absolutely nothing to apologise for, it was entirely understandable why she distanced herself from me, and I needed her to know that. Before I had the chance to kick my brain in gear, she spoke again, chewing on her lip between sentences.

"I like you, Bella. You went out on a limb for me, and for Edward, and you fought against the tide for us. Without you, well, we wouldn't still be here. If you had painted us with the same brush as our peers, and had thought to hold Edward and I accountable for our background, our past, then we would have missed out on making a loyal and genuine friend, and that would have been a terrible loss. What I'm trying to say is, you didn't judge us, so I'm not judging you. I want to be friends, and I will do whatever it takes to make that happen."

Reaching forward I grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze, trying to keep my emotions at bay. "Thank you," I said, practically whispering as I fought control. I utterly refused to cry in the lunchroom of all places.

No more words were needed, she knew what I was trying say. She got that I was thanking her for her understanding, and for still wanting to be friends. I needed that, I needed a friend, and she was stepping up to the plate.

She squeezed my hand back and smiled, looking almost as choked up as I felt. Releasing her hand, I started on my lunch again, Alice following suit, and together we both pretended the other wasn't crying while trying to act nonchalant about the whole thing. It was awesome, and for once, sitting at that table, I wasn't alone.

Relief, that's all I could feel, relief. I had a friend, a true friend, who knew about my fuckups and still wanted to stick around, and who didn't have to be coerced into talking to me. Unlike Carlisle, Alice made the first move, and I'd be dammed if I let that opportunity slip from my grasp.

She was putting her trust in me, and I was not going to let her down.

* * *

_So…I vanished for a while. Went through a bit of a rough patch, but I'm quite happy to say I'm back on track now. My health is still ridiculously unpredictable though, but I'm trying, so hopefully you'll get another update soon. Thanks for reading, and for sticking through the long periods of absence. Hope it didn't disappoint. Cheers._


	13. Chapter 13: Drowning

**My Sweet Thing**

**Chapter Thirteen: Drowning  
**

It had been two weeks since Dr. Tanner arrived at Hopkins, and as far as I was concerned, she had overstayed her welcome. If I had it my way, she never would have been hired in the first place. Dr. Carlisle was the right man for the job, albeit a little risky at times, but he was easier to talk to, and he listened.

Dr. Tanner and I were going round in circles. If it wasn't one thing, it was something else. Whatever I refused to talk about, she would latch onto it. Why did I like to control everything? Why did I have a driver rather than drive myself to school? What's my relationship like with Rose and Jasper? Why had my grades slipped so severely at the end of last year? Why did I refuse to talk to her?

To be quite honest, it was fucking me off. She just wouldn't stop. She was meant to help me and instead she had me closing up and running to Dr. Carlisle every night. He listened, he understood, and he knew when to shut the fuck up. Dr. Tanner did not know how to do any of those things, and at the rate we were going, one of us was leaving that office with an injury. I was either going to hit her or the wall out of frustration if she didn't shut the fuck up, soon.

"You feel like you've lost control-"

"You don't know how I feel!" I cried for had to have been the sixth time since our appointment began.

"Then tell me," she called back, ignoring my erratic pacing and arm movements. I felt like a caged lion, desperately trying to release some of my pent up energy.

"No," I growled, scowling at her.

"Why?" Dr Tanner's gaze levelled mine and I dropped my eyes to the floor, ceasing my movements immediately.

It would be so easy to tell her why I couldn't lose control, but in doing so I would ruin everything. People had gone above and beyond to protect me, and I refused to throw that in their face because I still was crippled by guilt. Confessing my crime would solve nothing, only cause heartache. I had to stay strong, keep it locked up tight and ensure my confession never slipped passed my lips.

She mistook my silence as compliance and charged ahead with her agenda, hoping to get some honest answers out of me. "Looking through your notes, and hearing the rumours that run rampant round this school, I can only assume that your need to have control stems from the fact you lost a very close friend of yours."

"Don't go there," I snarled, glaring sharply.

Instead of taking heed of my warning, she ploughed ahead like I hadn't spoken. Stupid bitch.

"Some rumours suggested that you and Mr Black were more than just close friends, and in fact were dating. Losing someone you love suddenly can leave lasting effects, ones that need to dealt with. From what I could find out, Mr Black died in a car crash, having lost control of the vehicle. Is that correct?"

No. No. No. No. She wasn't doing this. She couldn't be doing this. I was past this. Those memories were locked away, buried deep down, and the last thing I needed was her dragging them out and throwing them on show for closer inspection.

The smell of the blood and the gasoline mixing together still haunted me. The sight of Jake, my Jake, bloodied and broken still haunted me. I couldn't go back down that road. I would never forget, but that didn't mean I had to relive every moment.

"Just stop," I barked, fighting back every instinct my body had to run for the door. "If you ever expect me to walk back through that door you'll drop the subject and never bring Jake back up. We don't talk about him. We never will."

Dr. Tanner sat back in her chair slowly and nodded softly, acknowledging the walls I had built to protect myself. She wasn't going to get past them, no matter how hard she pushed, and that was something she needed to grasp sooner rather than later.

Jake was my Achilles heel, and no matter how great I could pretend to be, he was always going to be my one weakness, the one thing that would shut me down and tear me apart from the inside out.

"I'm sorry for overstepping," she said, giving me a meaningful look. "I won't bring Mr Black up again, but I do think we need to talk about your need for control. You may not think it's a problem, but have you ever thought how many times you try to take over a situation, how many decisions you make for others without consulting them, and how many situations have you avoid in order to keep control over your life? These are the questions you need to answer, and not necessarily with me, but just take some time to consider everything."

I nodded slowly and dropped my armour, sinking back into the chair. I knew I would have to address those questions, but a silly part of me wanted to just pretend they didn't exist. It was easier to act like everything was fine, despite that not being the case. When I didn't have control over a situation, it scared me, terrified me even. I knew why that was the case, but I didn't know how I could go about changing it. Granted, it was obvious I'd never be able to control everything in my life, but I could try my hardest despite that.

That's just how it was. I couldn't risk losing control again, even over the smaller things, because at the end of the day, someone was suffering otherwise. For example, Alice and Jasper. Jasper wanted her badly, and would lie and scheme his way into her pants, leaving a trail of destruction behind him. I couldn't let that happen to Alice. I couldn't let her fall into his clutches and his bed. I needed to protect her, like I should have protected Jake that night.

With our friendship back on track, I knew that it was about time the two of us had a very frank conversation about her sex life. It really wasn't a conversation I wanted to have, but it was needed. I needed to protect her, especially since Jasper had stepped up his game.

He had gone ahead and done his job, warning all the lecherous freaks away from her, but in doing so it was clear he fully intended to be the one to take her virginity. Every guy now knew Jasper Whitlock had first dibs on her. The marching orders had been issued and like a general commanding his army, Jasper made it known that punishments' would occur should there be a coup. If anyone was to step out of line, make a move on Alice themselves, then the rest of their time at school would be a living nightmare.

With that set in motion, it was only going to be a matter of days before Jasper approached Alice and tried to worm his seedy self into her life. Now I knew Alice was a big girl and that technically she could take care of herself, but having faced Jasper before and lost, I knew the girl was no match for him. I had to help her out. I had to warn her. I would not stand back and watch as he used and casted her aside.

That was something that I could just not have.

"_Maybe you need to relinquish control a little, loosen the reins you have pulled so tightly on your life. You may have made mistakes, Bella, but you're still breathing. They can't have been that bad." _

Dr. Tanner's words from earlier on in our session woke me from my thoughts and I sighed. Yes, I was still breathing but Jake wasn't. I lost control and killed him. I lost control of the car and he died. I couldn't just 'loosen the reins' as she'd put it, and I needed to protect Alice from the impending doom that seemed to be looming overhead. I had lost control once and it had devastating, I couldn't risk that happening again.

I knew I had to take action soon, so after leaving Dr Tanner's office, I started planning when to talk to Alice. It wasn't until the next day that I got the opportunity I needed. She always came in early and headed to the art department, so that's where I went.

There I sat, watching Alice work away on her fashion show pieces, and tried to pluck up the courage to begin. There really was no way to go about such a conversation, and regardless of how tactful I wanted to be, the best way was to be blunt.

"Alice," I began, watching her carefully, "are you a virgin by any chance?"

Yeah, there probably was a better way of asking _that_ particular question, but it really was the clincher of the whole conversation. If she wasn't a virgin, she was of no interest to Jasper. We had all just assumed she was a virgin, given her age, but then again, we had all lost ours a little early.

Completely caught off guard, Alice abruptly stopped sowing and rose her eyebrows in question, wondering why the hell I wanted to know.

"I only ask because some guys are interested, and I know for a fact they're only interested because they think you're a virgin. They're sick and I really don't want you to get caught up in their lies."

"Who are they?" she asked, carefully.

"Well, it's actually quite a lot of guys, I couldn't name them all, but one in particular has made it clear you're off limits for the others. That's Jasper Whitlock."

"Jasper Whitlock hates me," she said, frowning down at the fabric before her. "Why would he warn off all the others?"

"Because he wants to be the one to take your virginity, and trust me when I say he'll stop at nothing to charm the pants off of you."

"So let me get this right, Jasper Whitlock, a guy who has gone out of his way to make my life here miserable, now wants to sleep with me?"

"Yes."

"You do know how crazy that sounds, right?"

"Yes, I do, but please don't underestimate the situation because I really would hate to see him hurt you."

"Bella, I am a virgin, but I'm not ready for sex. I'm not just going to open my legs for the first guy who compliments me. I mean, he'd have to move mountains before I even considered sleeping with him, and to be honest I'm a little offended you thought I'd be so easy," she said, smiling at me, for which I was thankful. She was joking, thank God.

I nodded, biting back my smile and shrugged at her. "Jasper can be really persuasive, and trust me when I say he would willing wait until you graduated if that's what it took to be the first guy you slept with. He would wait that long, seriously. You can't trust a word that comes out of his mouth."

"You used to be friends with this guy," she said offhandedly. I knew what she was thinking, if I was friends with him then he couldn't be so bad, but that just wasn't true.

"Exactly, I know how he works, and I know it's not my place but I am genuinely worried that he could manipulate you into giving it up to him. He does not deserve you, in any capacity, let alone the honour of taking your virginity. Just please keep this conversation in mind if he ever smiles at you, approaches you, asks you out, please." All I could do was let Alice know of what was going on, I couldn't force her to stay away from him.

I watched as she took in what I'd said and then nodded, biting her lip nervously.

"You're my friend, and you're worried about this so I'm going to trust you, I'll be careful. Thank you, Bella, for warning me. I really appreciate it." She gave me a sincere smile, and some weight was lifted from my shoulders. It was good to know my words had not fallen on deaf ears.

What was to happen next was anyone's guess. I didn't know what Jasper had up his sleeve, but at least Alice was aware of his ulterior motives. That was all I could do for her, and I actually felt a little glad that I no longer had to take charge of that situation. It was one less thing to worry about.

Of course, once one problem is resolved, another one presents itself.

I didn't even manage to get through lunch that very same day before I was ambushed by another situation that needed my attention.

Alice was failing Calculus and had an extra study session scheduled over lunch, which meant I was back to eating by myself. I had no problem with that, it usually meant I was in and out the lunchroom in twenty minutes and could go get my homework done before going to Carlisle's at night. Eating lunch by myself was not a problem.

Having someone eat lunch with me, that was the problem. Or rather, having Rosalie Hale eat lunch with me was the problem. In true Rose style, she came with an agenda, and that weight on my shoulders just became unbearable.

"Interesting thing happened last night," she said, smirking at me as she took a seat. I was initially shocked by her arrival but having heard what she said I knew it was for her own personal gain. "I got a call from your father. He wanted me to remind you that he'll be away for a few days, and if you need him, you can get him on his cell."

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

"Oh?" I asked, pretending to be confused. "Why did he call you?" I knew exactly why he called her, but fuck, I couldn't have her finding out where I had been going every night.

Rose's smirk grew tenfold, and she stabbed her salad with her fork, giving me an all knowing look as she chewed on a bit of lettuce. She was trying to make me sweat, I knew it. She wanted me to get nervous and cave, but that wasn't going to happen. No way in hell.

"Why don't we skip the bullshit and you just tell me who you were with, huh?"

"I wasn't-" Rose put her finger up and stopped me, mid-sentence, her smirk falling from her face.

"Don't lie to me. We both know you were out doing something you shouldn't have been, or your father wouldn't have needed to call me. He seemed to be under the impression that we have been studying hard for the past two weeks." Her eyebrows rose and she smirked. I could maybe have lied my way out of one night, but two weeks, that was impossible.

"Just leave it," I said, pleading a little. It was the wrong move to make, but I was hoping she would have taken pity on me and let me off. Apparently not.

"No, I'm not going to leave it. I want to know where you're going. You're using me as cover, and I want to know why."

_Lie! Think of a lie! _

"I'm spending time with Alice and Edward," I said, shrugging. "That's all." Rose looked at me carefully and started laughing, shaking her head.

"I'm not a fucking idiot, Bella. I know you better than you know yourself. You seem to forget that I _know_ you. That was lie, so now I want the truth. We can do it the easy way, or the hard way. Your choice."

I frowned and bit my lip, unsure of what move to make next. Rose did know me, much better than I cared to admit. I could just tell her, but I didn't want to! I wanted to keep my time with Carlisle private. She would get the complete wrong idea, and it would be dreadful. I needed to protect him, because it wasn't his fault that I came running to him. He would get the brunt of the drama if our nightly sessions ever came to public light, and I couldn't have that.

"I'll take your silence to mean you're not going to tell me. That's fine, you don't need to say anything, I'll work it out." I expected Rose to leave after that, but instead, she started in on her lunch again.

A little unsure of what to do, I started eating my lunch again, and just hoped she was done for the day. Piss knows what she was going to do, but at least for now, I had a little time to work on a better excuse.

"Are you dating someone?" she asked abruptly, catching me off guard. Rose narrowed her eyes when I looked at her, and she cocked her head to the side, analysing me. "Hmm…you're not dating anyone, but there is someone in the picture."

Rose smirked and continued to stare, my gaze faltering under hers. I looked away and tried to keep eating, but she seemed determined to get my secrets out of me.

"Do I know them?" I didn't think I'd made a move, but her grin told me otherwise. "So I do know them. Are they at this school?"

She knew me too well, she could read me like an open book. Fuckety fuck. If she kept it up, she'd work it out, and I couldn't have that. Throwing my cutlery on my tray, I made to stand, but she stood too.

"Don't even think about running, because it will just take one call from me and your father will know exactly where you've been going." Her icy look told me not to fuck around so I sat back down. I wasn't going to call her bluff, but I was curious as to how she would work it out.

"And how exactly do you intend to do that?"

"Your driver uses satellite navigation to drive everywhere. I call your father and say you lied, you've been going somewhere else, but I don't know where, he'll be worried and check for himself. So, you going to sit here and be a good little girl or am I going to have to hold you down?" She licked her lips and gave me a sultry look.

Talk like that would have had us making out in an empty classroom last year, and while a shot of lust did shoot through my system, I knew better than to fall back into step with Rose. Her lips were like drugs, addicting and deadly. She was the perfect path to self-destruction, and the one person I needed to avoid.

"You're scared of me finding out, why?" Her voice had lost the icy tone it held before, and she was genuinely curious. "What could you possibly be doing that has you so worried?"

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" I asked in return, sighing.

Rose toyed with her salad a little and shrugged. "Maybe I miss my best friend. Maybe I thought you actually cared about me. Maybe I don't want to give you up." This time, she avoided looking at me. "You're trying to pick your life up and move on; I get that now. I see that what you're doing is for the better, and I know you're not going to go back to your old ways, no matter what. But, did you really need to abandon Jasper and I the way you did? Did our friendship not mean anything to you?"

She was hurt, I could see it in her eyes, and hell, she had a reason to be hurt. I had just walked away from them. At the time, it felt like the right thing to do. They were poison, and I thought by cutting them off I'd be saving myself, but I didn't really. In fact, I made myself feel more alone than I ever have felt.

"You threatened me, you attacked me, you treated me like shit," I said, shaking my head. "How could you expect me to stay?" She actually looked guilty, and it felt like we were finally getting somewhere with one another.

"I guess I thought that if I could just keep you with us, get you to stay by any means, then you'd come to realise that you were making a mistake by trying to leave in the first place."

"Are you done with your lunch?" I asked, causing Rose looked up at me in confusion before nodded, sliding her tray forward. I reached over and picked it up, along with mine, then deposited our rubbish in the bin. Returning to the table, I motioned for Rose to follow, and the two of us left the lunch room.

She was giving me an apprehensive look, and was closing in on herself. Honest Rose was about to depart, and I in return I would get defensive and volatile Rosalie. I couldn't have that. We needed to have this conversation, to move passed our troubled past and start afresh. Grabbing her hand, I gave it a squeeze, and pulled her along with me.

Finding the first empty room, I waltzed us in, and shut the door. Placing a chair underneath the handle, I stopped anyone from being able to open it, and turned back to her. She was looking at me carefully, watching my every move.

"Locking the door, really? We could make a fortune if someone walked in," she joked. I rolled my eyes and hopped up onto the teacher's desk.

Rose's eyes followed me as I moved and she took a seat on one of the desks facing me. We just sat there and stared at one another, taking the other in. She was as beautiful as ever, and while she was icy and cold to the everyone, there was actually a nice person underneath. How we had strayed from our once perfect relationship to being enemies, I didn't know.

"What are we doing here?" she asked, her impenetrable mask falling away.

"I think it's time we had an honest conversation without interruptions. We started having one in the lunchroom but we would have been interrupted eventually, so this seemed like the next best thing." I watched as she nodded and chewed on her bottom lip.

"We're not friends anymore, are we?"

"No," I replied, shaking my head. "I don't think we've been friends since your birthday party, but even then, that was a stretch."

"I miss you, Bella, and I want my friend back." For Rose to be so open about her feelings, I knew that she was being serious. I had to be very careful, because one wrong move and she'd think I was taking the piss and then it would all blow up in my face.

Though, one thing still remained to be seen, did I want to be friends with Rose again?

When there was no fighting, it worked great, but if she even felt threatened in the slightest then she'd go for the jugular, just like she did at the beginning of the year. Hell, she only hates Alice and Bronze so much because they stand to screw up her perfect world, and as far as she sees it, they have. Could I really be friends with the girl who chopped Alice's gorgeous locks off? Could I really be friends with the girl who tried to blackmail me into staying under her rule?

"Rose, I don't trust you," I said carefully, keeping my voice calm. I didn't want her to fly off the handle. It was about self-preservation, she knew I was up to something I shouldn't be, and she knew I had to be desperate if I was using her as cover. While I wasn't technically doing anything wrong, reputations were on the line and I couldn't afford Carlisle to get the raw end of the deal.

She stoically watched me and crossed her arms over her chest. There was hurt behind her eyes, but she would never let on, it would be weak. "Alright, got the message loud and clear, you can fuck off now."

I sighed and bit my lip, expecting the vulgar words and the backlash, and while I should have took her advice, I needed to explain.

"No, listen to me. I don't trust you because you've given me no reason to. You're cruel, and manipulative, and cold. You attacked a student out of spite and left her visibly shaken and missing three quarters of her hair! How can I trust you after that? What happens next time I piss you off, are you going to do that to me?" She dropped her eyes to the floor and clenched her jaw, but I wasn't done.

"I can't trust you, it's not that I don't want to, but if we were ever to be friends again then you would need to change. I know, I know, people always say you shouldn't have to change for anyone, but guess what? I changed, I killed one of our best friends and I changed, for the better. You need to change, too. You can't go through life crushing those you find inferior to you and destroying peoples' lives for fun, because you'll only end up alone, like now."

"So what would you have me do, huh?" she cried, flying up from the desk and towards me. "What do you want me to do? Beg for forgiveness? Suddenly be nice to everyone? Huh? What do you want from me?" Her breathing was heavy and there were tears in her eyes, and this time I knew the mask she had kept up for so long was slipping, and fast.

Without missing a beat she continued, her whole body practically shaking before me. "You killed Jake, yes you did, but I was the one pushing you to take the coke. It was my body you snorted it off, and it was me who first got you into it. I pushed you to join Jasper and I, to join our fucked up little group, to sell your soul to the fucking devil, me!"

It was blatantly clear at that point, while Rose broke down, throwing venomous accusations towards herself, that she was overcome with guilt. It was poisoning her from the inside out, pushing her to the edge of reason and I could see her on the cusp of having a complete breakdown right in front of me.

Rose continued her poisonous proclamations, waving her arms round wildly as she paced the floor. I'd heard enough, she was venting but at this point only doing more damage than good. I needed to ground her before she flew too close to the sun and wouldn't return.

My hands grabbed her jumper and pulled her to me abruptly, cutting her off completely. I wrapped my arms around her neck and practically pushed her face into my shoulder. She tensed on impact, but gradually her body went limp, her hands gripping my waist tightly as she buried her face into me, and finally she let the sobs take over.

She needed a friend, whether I wanted to be hers or not, she needed one, just like I had needed one weeks ago. No, I wasn't forgiving her for her appalling behaviour towards Alice, Bronze and myself, but she needed someone, and if I had to step up then so be it.

Rose and I were similar, we were both guilty of being young and immature with too much freedom and no one to stop us from jumping off the cliff. Rather than protect each other, we jumped together. I may have been driving, but like she said, she was the one supplying the drugs, feeding my addiction. I didn't hold her responsible, but she did, and that was enough for me. If anyone could understand how crippling guilt is, it was me. She was punishing herself enough for the both of us.

Coaxingly, I ran my hand up and down her back, between her shoulder blades. Her sobs were slowly becoming chocked and ragged but lessening in intensity, and eventually they became deep breaths, calming her emotionally wrecked self.

Carefully, I pulled back and took a thorough look at her. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she was quickly trying to wipe her face and nose, pulling further away from me. I wouldn't have it. Physical distance practically meant emotional distance and I couldn't have her closing off on this. It needed to be dealt with.

I reached up cautiously and wiped a few stray tears from her face, slightly jealous of the fact that even though she had been crying uncontrollably she still looked gorgeous.

"Let me talk, okay? Don't pull away, don't fight me off, just let me get through this," I said, manoeuvring her body back to mine so we were practically hugging again, only this time I was looking straight into her eyes. They held so much vulnerability it was frightening. Never had I seen Rose so cut up before. Her mask had fallen, shattered, and now was the time to help her either put it back on or walk away without it.

I was hoping for the latter.

"You're miserable, and it's clear as day to see. Despite recent events, we have a past, and at one point in time you meant more to me than anyone else. So when I say this, please think of it as your previous friend and lover telling you because she can't stand you being so sad. Don't think of it as the girl you blackmailed, the girl you bullied, and the girl whose heart you broke when you picked Jasper over her. My opinion matters, please remember that. At one point, it was me who you sought out to give you advice, so please take it."

I waited for some kind of reaction and was relieved to see her nod softly. She got it, got what I was trying to say, and hopefully she was willing to accept what was coming next.

"With all that said, it's time we aired some of your dirty laundry. It needs to be dealt with." Rose chewed at her lip ferociously and I was half expecting blood to appear; she was terrified of the next words to come, and so was I. "Just because you're miserable doesn't mean everyone around you should be too. No matter how hard you try to spread the pain around, it'll only get worse. You hurt others, you seek them out and cause them turmoil. You get jealous, and instead of congratulating that person on whatever it is you're jealous of you try to destroy it, and them. The fact of the matter is, you're a bully, and a cruel one at that." I could see the tears forming in her eyes but I had to keep going, she needed the truth.

"You've been spoilt and like me have had no one to tell you no, to tell you to behave or how to act like a decent human being. I'm not saying you don't have your moments because I would never have fallen so hard for you if that was the case, but you hide them away. You hide the good parts about you, and now I can't even see if there are any. You're hurting, I get that, and you're scared, I get that too, but you can't keep pushing this away. It's tearing you apart, pushing people away from you, and you're losing everything. Yes, you may still have Jasper, but let's face it, he's thinking with his dick and not his heart. You use him to make yourself feel better, and that's what we all did, but now's the time to stop and make changes. You're beautiful on the outside, Rose, but you're ugly on the inside, and it shouldn't be that way." I wiped the tears running down her cheeks and pushed her hair away from her face.

"You may not be ready to deal with all of this quite yet, but when you are then me know cause I know someone who can help. If I can pick up my life, you can pick up yours. We can do this. Together, we can do this."

I didn't exactly mean to offer her my friendship as I still didn't trust her, but it was out there and I wasn't taking it back. I couldn't do that to her, not when she was in this state. She nodded, remaining completely silent as the tears continued to fall, and slowly she wrapped her arms around me, embracing me tightly.

That was step one, she hugged me.

In our fucked up rollercoaster past, I was the one that made the moves, I was the one that hugged her, reached for her hand, and was affectionate with her, not the other way round. She didn't like to show her hand, show people she needed them.

"I'm so sorry, so so so sorry," she whispered, trying to bury her face into my neck. Her tears were soaking my neck and my shirt, but I didn't care, she needed this. She needed to let it out cause God only knows how long it had been sitting under the surface just waiting to get out.

Very few words were said between the two of us as we stood in that classroom, and it became clear that neither of us could face leaving it. As much as I wanted to stick to the rules and not revert back to old ways, Rose and I skipped out on our remaining classes.

We snuck out into the corridor and back to our lockers to fetch out things. Rose was silently weeping, occasionally wiping away her tears, and I could tell she was relieved when we made it out of the building unseen by our peers.

I couldn't call my driver to come pick me up, my father had specifically told him not to get me from school early since it was known I liked to ditch frequently. That left us with a slight problem. Rose had driven to school, but glancing over at her, she was a mess.

Her body was physically shaking from the sobs that had started to take over her again, and I was sure she was falling to pieces right before my very eyes. I needed to get her help, as soon as possible.

Without thinking about it, Rose opened the driver side door and began to get in, only to be pulled back by me. There was absolutely no way I was letting her get behind the wheel in that state.

"What are you doing?" she choked out, hugging her body with her arms.

"You're not driving," I said, taking the keys from her hand. "I'll drive.

"You don't have to-"

"You're in no fit state, Rose. I'm surprised you could even see where your car was through all those tears. I can't let you drive."

"But-"

"No, I can do this. You need this, and I need this too."

I could do it, right? I could drive. I could sit behind the wheel of a vehicle and drive. I could turn the key in the ignition and not think of Jake, or the gasoline spilling out, of the blood splattered across the windscreen. I could drive.

The two of us entered the vehicle shaking, and I silently cursed Rose for driving such an ostentatious and powerful car. It was just another similarity, another reminder of that night. But unlike that night, the two of us would leave the car alive and unharmed, we just had to.

Rose's tears were slowing in frequency, but she looked haunted, and so defeated. The lights were on but no one was home. She had officially shut down on me. I gave her hand a squeeze to get her attention but she just kept staring out the window, pretty much catatonic to the world around her.

I had to get her out of school, away from prying eyes, and into the hands of someone who could help piece her life back together. Rose's parents wouldn't be around, that was a given, so I knew she wasn't expected back home later.

They always left this time of year, and even if they had been around, they wouldn't have been any use. As far as they were concerned, much like my father believed, children were for appearance only. They had them to carry on the family name, to look good on the Christmas card. We were objects, our emotions didn't matter, and Rose's problems would be swept under the rug, much like mine had been.

"It'll be alright, Rose, we'll fix this," I said, trying to reassure myself more than her.

She was scaring me, to be honest. She had shut down and I didn't like it. I would rather have her screaming bloody murder at me than close off like she had. I needed to see some emotion cross her face, needed to see some light behind her eyes, and see some fight left in her. Without it, she was nothing, and that thought terrified me. If she had finally succumbed to the guilt, was finally drowning in it, how long did I have before she gave up and let it suffocate the life out her? Was I too late?

Turning the key in the ignition, I bit my lip as the car came to life. As terrified as I was of driving, I was more scared of losing Rose like I had lost Jake. While Jake had died physically, Rose looked to be dying emotionally, and I just couldn't have that.

Anxiously, I put the car in gear and my foot on the accelerator. We were away, and my hand couldn't grip the steering wheel any tighter. I was aware that I was shaking, that as I accelerated faster through the streets tears began to form, eventually falling down my cheeks, but I had to keep going.

Rose needed me.

She was still as despondent as ever when we pulled up at our destination, and she didn't even make a comment when she saw where we were. The Rose I knew would have said something, would have made some joke or snide remark, but no, this Rose, who was withering away before me, dropped her eyes into her lap like it was nothing.

I got out the car, my legs and arms shaking, and realised we were being watched. Carlisle was standing just outside his front door, his arms laden with bags, and a confused look across his face. He dropped his bags almost instantly and came over, a worried and anxious glint in his eyes.

"What's going on? You were driving, when did you start driving? And Bella, you can't come here during the day. We have rules."

"She needs help," I stumbled out, my voice cracking from the nerves, as I pointed towards the car.

Carlisle looked over and frowned, clearly having missed the girl sitting in the passenger seat beforehand. Rose was crying again, and rocking her body back and forward, cradling herself in her arms. She was broken, and I needed him to fix her.

"Please, please help her. I know I'm not meant to be here but I didn't know where else to go."

Taking another look at the two of us, Carlisle nodded and advanced towards the vehicle. He opened the passenger door and spoke softly to Rose, trying to calm her down. Her rocking didn't cease, and it became apparent she wasn't listening to him. Within seconds, he had lifted her out of the car, put her on her own two feet and was escorting her into the house under his arm.

I didn't know what to do at that point. He had left the door open, and his bags were still strewn across the entryway, but he hadn't indicated I was to follow. Rose needed him at that moment, and while some explaining would need to be done, until he asked for it I was going to keep my distance. I just needed a moment to myself.

Dropping down onto my knees I took a few deep breaths and clenched my eyes shut, willing the images of that fateful night to disappear. We had made it safe and sound to Carlisle's. Everything was fine. I hadn't killed us. I hadn't crashed. We were okay. I had driven. It was alright. Everyone was alright.

Maybe if I kept repeating it I would finally start to believe it.

"You drove here."

I looked up and saw Carlisle a few feet in front of me.

"I had to, she needed me."

"You drove here, you do understand the significance of that, don't you?"

"Of course I do, but I couldn't just leave her like that. She needed help, I had to help her." Carlisle held out his hand and helped me up onto my feet.

"You drove here," he repeated again, a small smile forming on his lips. "I'm so proud of you. You drove here."

I couldn't help but smile back at him, my eyes tearing up at his words. He was proud of me. God, when was the last time anyone had been proud of me? It felt like years, it probably was years, but right then, at that moment, he was proud of me.

"Come inside, you've been out here for an hour, you must be cold. Plus, some explaining needs to be done."

I nodded and followed him up to the door, shocked I had knelt there for so long without realising. Was I really so lost in my thoughts? Grabbing some of the grocery bags lying in front of the door, I followed Carlisle inside. Entering his kitchen, I dropped his bags on the counter and helped him unpack. He put them away and then handed me a glass of water as he went to check on Rose.

Coming back into the room, he gave me a soft smile and pointed to my water.

"Drink that and then go lie down, the guest bedroom is third door on the right. We'll talk about all this later. The two of you are useless in your current states."

"What about Rose?" I asked, wondering how she was coping.

"She's in the other guest room, sleeping." I nodded and knew he wouldn't tell me anything else. He was going to keep what happened between them confidential, and I knew I had made the right decision to come to him. He was still looking out for us, despite the risks in doing so, and despite our past experiences together. The man was a saint.

"Thank you, Carlisle, I don't know what I would have done without you today," I said, getting up to go lie down.

"You're welcome, I just hope I can be some help."

"You will, you already have." He gave me a soft smile and nodded.

"Go rest, I need you on top form later." It was my time to nod, and I did so before leaving the kitchen.

After finding the correct room, I settled down on the bed, tucked under the covers and finally let myself relax. All of today's worries and fears were locked into my tense muscles, and finally they were being let out.

I had driven today. I had driven for the first time in over ten months, and no one had died while doing so. That was one of my biggest hurdles, and thanks to Rose, I had to jump over it without a second thought. She had helped me, whether she realised it or not, and in return I was going to help her.

I maybe didn't trust her, and I maybe knew better than to align myself with her, but right then, she was a broken and empty shell of what she used to be. She needed someone, much like I had, and I was going to be that person. Would it be easy? Probably not, but I couldn't give up on her.

I had been drowning in guilt once, letting it fill my lungs and starve me of breath, but then Carlisle came and pulled me from the depths, pushing life back into me, and forcing me to take that all important breath of a new beginning. He had helped save me, and I was going to do the same for Rose, regardless of our past issues.

The entire situation had the possibility to bite me in the ass, but I had to take the chance. I had to dive into the deep end and pull her out. We both used to jump off that metaphorical cliff, doing crazy things without thinking of the responsibilities, the consequences behind our actions. I had hit the water first, killing Jake and losing myself, and now she had finally caught up with me, drowning deeper and deeper.

We didn't save each other at the top, choosing to jump off together instead, but now at the bottom, surrounded by reality, we finally could help one another.

After all, once you hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up, right?


	14. Chapter 14: Simple

**My Sweet Thing **

**Chapter Fourteen: Simple**

It had been a week since Rose's break down, and she had yet to return to school. At first, I was there for her, trying my best to offer help, but it was to no avail. Carlisle noted that I was doing more harm than good and politely asked me to give Rose some space. I accepted his suggestion, not wishing to cause Rose any more pain than she was already in, and I kept my distance.

Having dropped her off at Carlisle's house that night, I wasn't surprised that she stayed over. What did surprise me was that three days later, when Carlisle had asked me to give her space, she was still staying there. My nightly sessions with him were called off, and he was going to let me know when they could start back up again. It didn't take a genius to work out that they were called off because Rose was staying there. She had taken up residence in his guest bedroom, still barely speaking, barely eating, and a complete shell of the person I knew her to be.

At first, I was completely uncomfortable with the idea of her staying with Carlisle. It went against everything he and I had agreed about keeping things professional, but, I knew he really didn't have a choice in the matter. He had been saddled with a girl who was breaking apart at the seams and he had to fix her. His God complex was not lost on me. Granted, he could have taken her to the hospital to get official help, but in doing so that would put everyone in a sticky situation.

Rose was falling apart because of Jake. How was her guilt to be fully explored if she couldn't be open about the circumstances that night? How could she get better if she had to protect those around her? There was just no way, so in order to get the help she required, she had to stay under Carlisle's wing.

It wasn't an ideal situation, but there was nothing that could be done about it. Until she was better, I was just going to keep my mouth shut and let them get on with it. I had to trust Carlisle, he wouldn't do anything stupid, he just wouldn't.

Rose's absence in school was well noticed, which did give me something to focus on. I may not have been able to help her mental state, but I could help calm the rumours running around about her. It seemed that nearly everyone had a theory on where she was. Apparently she was knocked up, she'd run off with a secret lover, she'd transferred out of state, her parents had finally stepped up and sent her off to get reformed, and a load of other crazy lies.

It was ridiculous, completely ridiculous.

To control the wildfire, I set out a lie of my own. It only took a few less than stellar promises here and there before it took off. Rose was in Cancun, soaking up the sun, and blowing off the world, a surprise trip from her parents for her excellent school record so far. I knew Rose wouldn't want people really knowing the real reason why she was gone, and this seemed like the next best thing.

Of course, like I suspected, it got people talking, and before long all the other rumours had been swept under the rug. All the talk was about Cancun and how lucky Rose was. Lucky indeed.

With Rose out of school and my renewed friendship with Alice blossoming, I spent more and more time with her. We would usually spend our mornings in the art department, working on her fashion show pieces, and would also meet up during study periods to chat in the library. I was actually growing more and more comfortable with her each day, and that started to show, as I found out. Apprently, I let my mask slip off when I was around her.

"You're worried about something," she said, pulling me from my thoughts.

We were sitting round a small table at the back of one of the art rooms, fabric strewn all around us, and while she was sewing, I was sorting through beads and sequins.

"What?" I asked, hoping to have heard her wrong.

"You look worried. You are worried, about what, I don't know, but I can tell something's amiss." I refused to say anything, and instead I cocked my eyebrow in question. I needed to know what she knew, or at least what she thought she knew.

Personally, I thought I had kept my worries and fears about Rose at home, and out of view from the prying eyes of everyone at school. There was no way anyone would be able to connect the dots even if they knew I was worried and my behaviour had been off. After all, Rose and I weren't friends, why would I worry about her? Well, we weren't friends as far as they knew.

I wasn't going to retract the offer I had made her when she was freaking out last week. She needed people, and I planned on being there for her. Hell, she'd been there for me after Jake's death, providing me with every distraction possible, even if said distractions were the last things I wanted. She had been there for me, and I was going to be there for her.

"Look, it's not my place to pry, but I can tell you're concerned about something. I know we're not the best of friends, but we are friends, right?" I gave a short nod and waited for Alice to continue. "You can talk to me, Bella. I mean, you can really talk to me. I know about…your past, and I won't judge you for anything you tell me. I'm here for you." She gave me a warm smile and went back to sewing, leaving the ball in my court.

I thought about her offer for a moment before nodding absentmindedly to myself. Trust, we needed to trust one another. The biggest failure with Rose and Jasper as my friends was that we never fully trusted one another. We never ever spoke about our feelings in fear the other person would use it against us. It was an unspoken rule. My friendship with Alice just couldn't be like that.

"You're right," I admitted, watching as she paused at my words before going straight back to work. She was giving me the ideal space I needed to talk, without the pressure, and I could have hugged her for it. "I've been worried about Rose."

Alice cocked her head to the side, acknowledging what I'd said and kept sewing away. I desperately wanted to know what she was thinking at that moment. She had surely heard all the rumours flying about, and then the 'truth' about Rose being in Cancun. As if realising I wasn't going to say anything else without a little prompting she licked her lips and looked at me.

"So her parents haven't whisked her away for a few weeks of sun, sea and sand?" I shook my head and chewed my lip, wondering how much I actually could divulge. "Whatever you tell me will stay strictly between us, I promise, Bella," Alice said, so much conviction behind her voice.

"She's still in town, and staying with a friend." That was the only way I could describe Carlisle, given he wasn't actually her doctor. "She's having some trouble. Things have finally caught up with her and she can't deal with it." I frowned at my lap and swallowed nervously, suddenly aware of fucked things were.

She'd kept her guilt buried since Jake's death, and how the hell she had managed that was beyond me. She'd kept up with the drugs, the drinking and the mindless sex, which surely all had to be a coping method. Recalling what Jasper had once said, the three of us all did the same old shit until I saw the light while he and Rose were still running around in the dark. Well, it seemed she'd finally seen the light as well, and it had broken her.

"Are you two still in contact?" Alice asked carefully, as if I was going to immediately retreat from her question.

"Yeah, sort of. I saw her a few days ago, and she just wasn't…coping. But, she's getting the help she needs, I'm just anxious that it won't be enough. It'll sound stupid, and from what you know of her it'll sound crazy, but I miss the old Rose. She always was a bit harsh but there was another side to her, one I haven't seen since before…before Jake died, and I want that Rose back. I'm probably fooling myself by even thinking I might get to see it again, what with her practically comatose now, but I can't help but hope." My rambling came to a stop and shut my eyes before taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry, you probably don't want to hear about me feeling sorry for Rose. She treated you like crap, worse than that even." Alice shook her head and shrugged.

"While I don't exactly have the best history with her, I don't bear any ill will towards her. You've all gone through something that I cannot even comprehend understanding, but you went through it together so it only makes sense you would want to be there for her. You were once friends, that means something, and it's not foolish to hope, Bella. You know a side to her others don't, and wanting that back certainly isn't foolish."

I tried to accept Alice's kind words for what they were, her being a caring friend, but it was difficult. She could read me, could get up inside my head and it was scary. I felt vulnerable, out of control, and it was unsettling. Granted, I had caused this by opening up, but I wasn't expecting to suddenly feel overwhelmed by it all. By this point in time, old Bella would have run a million miles, but I couldn't do that, not to Alice. I cared for her far too much to do that to her. Plus, I didn't want to run from her, she meant so much to me. I refused to lose a friend because of my sudden insecurity.

Those worries and insecurities stayed with me though for the remainder of the morning. After our conversation, we had turned onto other topics, and Alice tried hard to keep it light, but I could just tell that she knew I was a little uncomfortable with everything. She had made some very valid points though, and I was thankful for them, which I let her know before giving her a hug and heading off to my classes.

My brain was swimming with thoughts by the end of lunch, and I really wished I could just mute myself. If it wasn't Rose, it was Alice, or Bronze, or Dr Tanner, or Carlisle, and they were all drowning me. I wanted a break from overthinking everything, and desperately hoped things would go back to being simple. Though, I couldn't recall a time whenever they were simple. Wishful thinking perhaps.

Heading to my locker, I settled on the fact that there was nothing more I could do for Rose, Alice was looking out for me still and it wasn't too bad that she could read me so well, and as for the rest of them, well they'd just have to wait. I didn't have the time for their drama, yet.

Opening my locker door, I shuffled the books I'd need for next class and opened my bag, getting ready to exchange them. That's when I noticed I was no longer alone. Leaning next to me was Bronze, looking spectacular as always in the Hopkins uniform, and immaculately put together. He caught my eye and nodded, looking very serious, before opening his mouth to speak.

"They're coming. The Angels are coming for you, but listen - your life could depend on this - don't blink. Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast, faster than you could believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink. Good luck." Then just like that, he patted me on the arm and strode off.

What the hell?

I turned and looked round the hallway, taking in the other students to see if they knew what was going on. None of them had even seen Bronze by the looks of things. They were all chatting away and rifling through their lockers, unfazed.

Reaching for my books again, I suddenly felt like eyes were on me. The hallway was growing quieter with each passing second, and as my hand lay frozen in mid-air, I could hear the sounds of footsteps coming down the hallway. Too scared to look, I bit my lip and waited.

Bronze's message was cryptic at best, but normally we quoted things that had some significant meaning. It was like code, we told each other our thoughts or feelings without having to say them. Whatever he was trying to tell me was quickly moving closer.

Without a second moment's thought, I shut my locker and turned round to see the cause of the sudden silence. Standing several feet away and rounding on me was Dr. Tanner, Headmaster Williams, and Chief of Police Jenkins.

"Miss Swan, could you please come with us?"

"Am I in some sort of trouble?" I asked, looking directly at Chief Jenkins. I was sure he had let me off the hook regarding Jake, but if someone had found out, if something had been discovered then this was it, I was over. All of it would be over. Our precarious house of cards would come tumbling down.

"No, Miss Swan, we just need to ask you a few questions regarding Miss Hale and her whereabouts," Headmaster Williams explained, smiling softly. I chanced a look to Chief Jenkins and he gave me a small nod, backing up the headmaster's claim.

Relief flooded me instantly and I relaxed back onto my locker, nodding at them as I did so. Without a word, I gestured for them to lead the way and quickly followed. The rest of the students loitering around watched with rapt attention and quickly began to spread the news. It definitely looked like I was guilty of something, so I couldn't blame them. Had I see a student being escorted down the hall like I was then I'd definitely think they'd committed some crime.

Entering Headmaster Williams office, I was ushered into a seat and offered some water. Declining, as I didn't plan on staying that long, I dropped my bag on the floor and took in the three other occupants. Headmaster Williams took a seat behind his desk, opting for the 'I'm sorry about this but it's serious' look on his face as he watched Chief Jenkins. He stood by the bookcase to my left, crossing his arms over his chest and looking completely unimpressed. I would have been too if I was him.

Dr Tanner, the bane of my existence, stood just to the left of Headmaster Williams, and she was watching me like a hawk. At some point in time the two of us were going to have a throw down, it was just going to happen, consequences be damned.

"Miss Swan, as we mentioned in the hall, we need to ask you some questions about Miss Hale's whereabouts," Headmaster Williams explained, giving me an almost sympathetic look. Clearly he thought this was going to be difficult for me. In his mind, Rose was probably already dead and this would likely cause me to have another breakdown, like the one I apparently had after Jake's death.

"Oh?" I feigned interest and glanced round the room, taking each of them in as I did so.

"Yes. Her housekeeper has recently filed a missing persons report, stating Miss Hale has been absent from her home for just over a week. Apparently it wasn't uncommon for her to stay at a friend's house now and then, but it seems no one has seen her since last week."

There wasn't a question, so I wasn't answering.

Dr. Tanner narrowed her eyes at me and moved round the desk, taking a seat on the edge. She knew something was up. She was like a shark smelling blood in the water, and I was powerless to stop the bleeding.

"Did you see Rose last week, Bella?" she asked, trying to be friendly.

"Yes." She cocked her eyebrow and waited, as if I was going to continue of my own volition. What an idiot. I knew how this worked, and I had to be very careful with what I said. The best thing to do was answer their questions with short and simple answers.

"Where did you see her?" Dr Tanner asked, pursing her lips. She probably thought I was being difficult on purpose, just to rile her, and I kind of wished that was the case. Instead, Carlisle and Rose were caught up in this web I had weaved and I needed to make sure they weren't implicated for anything I had done or caused.

"School," I replied, not even feeling guilty for blatantly omitting where else I had seen her. Though, it's not like I could just say she was at Carlisle's. Hell, with the state she's in it would look nothing short of a kidnapping, she probably wouldn't even be able to explain how she got there.

"Did you talk to her?"

"We spoke."

"What about?"

"Our past."

"What about your past?"

"Did she seem troubled, Bella?" Chief Jenkins asked, saving me from Dr Tanner's intrusive question. It had absolutely nothing to do with the current situation and everyone knew it. Bitch was just trying to push her luck.

"No more than usual." The Chief and Headmaster nodded in understanding, but Dr Tanner sat clueless. She clearly still hadn't had the pleasure of meeting Rose and enduring her special brand of verbal torture. I was actually quite curious as to what Rose would make of our new counsellor. Shame I'd never see the verbal smack down she'd unleash on the lady.

"Did she talk about going somewhere? Meeting anyone new? Going out of town for a few days?"

"Nope, but it's Rose. She'll turn up. She always does."

"What does that mean?" Dr Tanner asked, looking directly at me. No way was I answering that one either.

"Miss Hale has a tendency to vanish for a few weeks at a time and then reappears out of nowhere," the Chief explained, waving his hand dismissively.

"So if this is common then why all the commotion this time?" she asked, rounding on the rest of them.

"Usually Mr Whitlock and Miss Swan accompany Miss Hale on these vanishing acts. Given that they are both here and have been for the last week, it was a little suspicious. Better to be safe than sorry." Dr Tanner nodded and from the looks of it, she mentally tucked that piece of information away for later. No doubt that would be brought up in one of my counselling sessions with her.

"Do you have any information pertaining Miss Hale at all, Bella?" Chief asked, bringing us back to point.

"No. I haven't heard from her, but I have no doubt she's fine." Headmaster Williams looked perturbed by my lack of information, and Dr Tanner still didn't look convinced, but I knew Chief Jenkins was no longer worried. He knew I was lying, but he wouldn't dare bring up why, not that he needed to.

"Alright then, Miss Swan, thank you for speaking with us. You can go back to class," Headmaster Williams said, giving me a soft smile.

I grabbed my bag and nodded at them all. While I wanted to sprint for the door, I could feel Dr Tanner's eyes on me and just knew she was trying to work me out. She wanted me to slip up, to look guilty, to give her a reason to pry into my life, and I had to make sure I didn't do just that.

With each step along the hallway, I tried to control the storm of raging emotions crashing beneath the surface of my mask. That was scary. That was fucking scary. Dr Tanner was like a dog with a bone, and I knew she wouldn't give up on this. I had to talk to Carlisle. Things were getting out of hand. I was going to have to speak to Chief Jenkins as well, maybe explain what I knew and make him call off the search for Rose.

On top of that, with that very public show of presence, everyone would know Rose was actually missing and not in Cancun soaking up the sun. The longer she stayed away, the worse it would get, as if she didn't already have enough to deal with.

Skipping class would have been the best thing to do for my emotions at the point but I knew it would scream guilty conscience like nothing else. Begrudgingly, I headed back to my locker, actually collected my books this time, and then headed off for my afternoon of lessons. I didn't want to, but there was nothing I could do at that moment.

A part of me did want to drive straight to Carlisle's house and warn them, but I wouldn't put it past Dr Tanner not to be watching my every move. It would be just like her to follow me and find exactly where Rose was hiding out. That was just not a risk I could willingly take.

When the bell finally rang and signalled end of the day, I was exceedingly thankful. Sitting in class had allowed me to think a few things over and I decided that it would be better to call Carlisle than head over there. For all I knew, Rose was making progress and might be able to return to school soon, and if I went over there then I could ruin things. I needed to keep my distance; it was for the best.

Heading out into the car park, I looked around for my driver and couldn't see him anywhere. Despite having driven Rose to Carlisle's house last week, I couldn't bring myself to get behind the wheel again. I had tried, but it was just not happening. My body would freak out and I'd end up having a panic attack. Until I got that under control, I was sticking with my driver, but it seemed like today he wasn't sticking with me.

Pulling out my phone, I went to call him and noticed a text. Pulling up my messages, I saw it was from my father, and surprise surprise, he had my driver and was hoping I could get a lift from one of my friends. Poor old ignorant, Charlie.

Shaking my head, I looked around, wondering if there was maybe someone I could hitch a lift with, and spotted a giant red truck parked in the lot. It was old school, almost too ancient to run from the looks of things, and it stood out like a sore thumb compared to all the pristine sports cars surrounding it.

I couldn't help but walk towards it and get a better look at the thing. Despite its shoddy paintwork and rusty scrapes, it had character and was awesome. The closer I got, the more I loved it, and when I saw that all too familiar head of hair slouched in the back of it, my heart began to beat a little faster. Trust him to be sitting in this old thing.

"Get in, loser, we're going shopping!" Bronze called, sitting up in the bed of the truck, and grinning at me. I tried to bite back the laugh but was powerless to do so. I made my way over to him and cocked my head to the side, watching his face light up at me.

"Mean Girls, really? You give me Doctor Who and then Mean Girls?" He grinned even wider and nodded.

"What? Both are classics!" he cried, holding his hands out to help me in. I climbed up without a second thought and scooted to the back, noting that Alice was in the passenger seat, giving me a cheery smile. I gave her a wave and looked to the driver, seeing a familiar face grinning back at me. I hadn't seen Tank since that day at the trailer park where I had first met Bronze, and from the looks of things, he hadn't changed at all.

"That's Emmett, I'm sure you remember him," Bronze said, chuckling to himself.

"Yeah, he's hard to forget," I mumbled, smiling back at Emmett.

He turned around and turned the key in the ignition, the truck roaring to life. With that, I turned and chanced a look over to Bronze, who looked far too comfortable sprawled out all over the bed of the truck. He had taken off his blazer and was using it as a cushion to lean against, while his shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, his tie loosened around his neck, and the top button of his shirt undone.

My insides couldn't help but turn to goo just looking at him. He had been an absolute Prince today, giving me a warning before I was cornered like that, and he did it in his own special way. Our quotes, god I loved our quotes. Biting my lip, I shook my head and watched as we peeled out of the school car park. I had no idea where we were going but really wasn't bothered. Getting home was now completely off the agenda. I was with Bronze, and that's all that mattered.

"How did you know?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me as we stopped at a red light.

"Hmm?" He looked over, his eyebrows raised in question and waited for me to repeat my question.

"How did you know they were coming for me?"

"Oh, that. I may or may not have been sitting outside the headmaster's office, eavesdropping while I waited to see him." He looked almost ashamed to admit it, but there was a cheeky grin forming on his lips. "Who knew punching a guy in the nuts would be the best thing I did today?"

"You? You punched someone in the nuts? Who?" I asked, laughing and shaking my head. No way. Bronze did not seem like the punching type. He was too sweet for that.

"An old friend of yours, Jasper Whitlock." I burst out laughing and started clapping, very pleased to hear Jasper take one to the gonads.

"I applaud you, sir," I said, continuing my slow clap in appreciation. "What did he do to deserve that?"

"Apparently he wants to bend my sister over a desk and break her in," he replied, clenching his fist as he spoke. He was still smiling, but it was a smile of anger, holding back his clear disdain at what he must have heard Jasper say.

"So I'm running him over with my car tomorrow morning," I remarked, immediately feeling my protective streak fly into action. Bronze chuckled and shook his head.

"No, you can't do anything. She's pissed at me for what I did, she can't be pissed at you too," he explained, jerking his thumb behind us towards Alice. "If she thinks we're forcing her hand she'll feel threatened and that's the last thing we need."

"Oh?"

"She's always treated like the baby, and it's not something that can really be helped. I mean, she's hardly even five foot tall, and I'm pretty sure a light breeze could knock her over. As her brother it's my duty to protect her from guys like Jasper, but if she thinks I'm taking away her choices and making her decisions for her then she'll flip out. Getting her to see my point of view on things will be impossible, and the last thing I want is her running straight into the waiting arms of that ass." Bronze shrugged and gave me a lopsided grin. "I appreciate the thought you, m'lady. Next time, I'll let you run him down."

Laughing I held out my hand for him to shake, fully intending to stick to that. A light knock from my bumper would hardly do Jasper any real damage, surely.

"Shake on it?" His eyes lit up at the offer and he reached out, taking his hand in mind.

"You've got yourself a deal." Raising our hands to his mouth, he kissed the back of mine and held my gaze. It was as if the boy knew how to charm the pants off a girl, and I had I been the old Bella I would have jumped him. Damn my new self-control.

Instead, I ended up blushing under his stare and looking around frantically for something else to focus on. I could feel my heart pounding wildly in my chest, my breathing coming out in laboured breaths, and the heat was still in my cheeks. Bronze certainly knew how to get me flustered.

Focusing on the buildings passing us by as we started to head out of town, I finally remembered that I still had no clue where we were going. Turning back to Bronze, I saw him looking between us, at our joint hands, and couldn't help but smile at him. He was too cute sometimes. As if feeling my eyes on him, he glanced up and mouthed 'what?', looking at little anxious as he did so.

"Where are we going?" I asked, scooting closer so I didn't have to yell over the engine and the sound of the wind whipping past us.

"Home, we're having a barbeque," he explained, smirking at me.

"We're going to your home?" Those sneaky buggers.

"Yeah. That a problem?" From the smirk still toying on his lips, I knew he had planned this. Chuckling I shook my head and snatched back my hand, smacking him none too gently on the arm.

"They all hate me there!" I cried out, unable to keep the smile off my face. "You know I'm scared!"

"You, scared? Not possible, Princess." He grinned and grabbed my hand again, giving it a squeeze. "If you wish, I can be your valiant knight and protect you. How does that sound?"

"You better!"

"I will, I will!" As if seeing the genuine worry I had, he scooted closer and dropped my hand, instead opting to wrap his arm around my shoulder and pull me into his chest. "Relax, Princess, they'll love you. I just figured after the time you've had recently, you'd want to get out and enjoy yourself."

"Yeah?"

"Yes," he replied, nodding. "And I may have also wanted to spend a little time with you. It's been quite a while since we've seen each other."

"It has."

"And that has been my fault entirely. Turns out I really didn't understand the fact that I could talk to you when I wasn't trying to pursue you." He shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. "So, do you forgive me for pretty much ignoring you these last few weeks?"

"Of course, though I really wasn't all that bothered," I joked. "It was actually a relief not having to put up with you." Chuckling, Bronze shook his head and turned to me, smirking cockily.

"You love me, Princess, and you miss me when I'm not around to harass you, don't lie." He kissed my temple and leant in to whisper in my ear. "I missed you, Princess. Please don't hurt my feelings and say you didn't miss me; that just wouldn't be nice." I squirmed in his arms as he spoke, his lips making contact with my ear in the process.

"Fine," I admitted, catching his pouty look. "I missed you." Bronze grinned as if I had just told him I'd go out with him. It was sweet to see.

"I knew you'd warm up to me eventually, Princess. All it took was a little time." His smile was infectious, and I returned it shyly, tucking myself in closer to him. Warm up to him I most certainly had, and as we continued to drive towards his home, I finally felt the many voices and worries in my head go mute.

At that point in time, it was just him and me in the bed of a truck, wind whipping round us, as we headed for what felt like freedom. My problems could wait, I was going to enjoy myself for a change. I needed it, because the last thing I wanted was to get bogged down in all of life's heavy that I ended up cracking up like Rose. No, I needed the break from normality, and Bronze was the perfect person to do that with.

Leaning over, I kissed his cheek and gave him a thankful smile. He watched me carefully, as if trying to decipher what that was for and just smiled crookedly at me. Giving my arm a squeeze we settled, my head on his chest, his arm around me, and just watched the scenery fly by. It felt simple, and that thought had me feeling all warm inside.

Happiness, all I felt was happiness.

Finally.


End file.
